3 ms·
Why couldn't there be multiple islands of stability, and why couldn't they be way higher in proton count? All you should really need is a fairly "balanced" nucl
by seanw444 2y ago
Why couldn't there be multiple islands of stability, and why couldn't they be way higher in proton count? All you should really need is a fairly "balanced" nucleus, right? Is there some property of larger nuclei that makes them increasingly more difficult to balance?
- mannykannot 2y agoI just posted some notes on this in another reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41057818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41057818
- adrian_b 2y agoThere are with certainty multiple islands of stability, when each layer of nucleons becomes complete. However, in each island of stability the most stable element is much less stable than the most stable element of the previous island of stability. Therefore in most higher islands of stability the decay times will become too short. It is possible and rather likely that only the first undiscovered island of stability may contain relatively long-lived elements, e.g. with half-lives over one second. An island of stability finishes at bismuth, which is radioactive, but which has a huge half-life. The next island of stability contains the long-lived thorium and uranium and the still relatively long-lived neptunium and plutonium, after which the half-lives decrease very quickly. Whichever will be the longest-lived elements of the next island of stability, their half-lives will be many orders of magnitude smaller than those of thorium and uranium.
- daedrdev 2y agoNotably Lead-208 has magic numbers of protons and neutrons so is extra stable, with lead itself representing the last stable element