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Of the 26 "monoisotopic" elements that have only a single stable isotope, all but one have an odd atomic number—the single exception being beryllium. In addition, no odd-numbered element has more than two stable isotopes, while every even-numbered element with stable isotopes, except for helium, beryllium, and carbon, has at least three.
In physics, mirror nuclei are a pair of isobars of two different elements where the number of protons of isobar one (Z 1) equals the number of neutrons of isobar two (N 2) and the number of protons of isotope two (Z 2) equals the number of neutrons in isotope one (N 1); in short: Z 1 = N 2 and Z 2 = N 1.
A nuclide is a species of an atom with a specific number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, for example, carbon-13 with 6 protons and 7 neutrons. The nuclide concept (referring to individual nuclear species) emphasizes nuclear properties over chemical properties, whereas the isotope concept (grouping all atoms of each element) emphasizes chemical over nuclear.
An example of a series of isobars is 40 S, 40 Cl, 40 Ar, 40 K, and 40 Ca. While the nuclei of these nuclides all contain 40 nucleons, they contain varying numbers of protons and neutrons. [1] The term "isobars" (originally "isobares") for nuclides was suggested by British chemist Alfred Walter Stewart in 1918. [2]
It is expected that improvement of experimental sensitivity will allow discovery of very mild radioactivity of some isotopes now considered stable. For example, in 2003 it was reported that bismuth-209 (the only primordial isotope of bismuth) is very mildly radioactive, with half-life (1.9 ± 0.2) × 10 19 yr, [6] [7] confirming earlier ...
D 0 is number of atoms of the daughter isotope in the original or initial composition, n is number of atoms of the parent isotope in the sample at the present, λ is the decay constant of the parent isotope, equal to the inverse of the radioactive half-life of the parent isotope [6] times the natural logarithm of 2, and
Archaeological materials, such as bone, organic residues, hair, or sea shells, can serve as substrates for isotopic analysis. Carbon, nitrogen and zinc isotope ratios are used to investigate the diets of past people; these isotopic systems can be used with others, such as strontium or oxygen, to answer questions about population movements and cultural interactions, such as trade.
In contrast, the proton numbers for which there are no stable isotopes are 43, 61, and 83 or more (83, 90, 92, and perhaps 94 have primordial radionuclides). [3] This is related to nuclear magic numbers , the number of nucleons forming complete shells within the nucleus, e.g. 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126.