Synthetic elements are excluded from the classification, as they do not occur naturally.
Trace radioactive elements (namely Tc, Pm, Po, At, Rn, Fr, Ra, Ac, Pa, Np, Pu) are also treated as synthetic. Although these do occur in nature, their occurrence is entirely dependent on their long-lived parents Th and U, and they are not very mobile. For instance, polonium's chemistry would predict it to be a chalcophile, but it tends to occur instead as a lithophile along with its parent uranium. Even radon, which is a gas, does not usually have time to travel very far from the original uranium source before decaying. When needed, these elements are typically produced synthetically in nuclear reactors instead of using the tedious and laborious process of extraction from uranium ores.