Tantalum Isomer Blurs The Boundaries Of Existence

Monday, April 21, 2014 - 08:50 in Physics & Chemistry

Identifying the full extent of the nuclear landscape, essentially how many isotopes exist, is vital for nuclear physics. There is a lot left to learn. Beyond the stable nuclei that we find on Earth, there are many unstable nuclei that are formed in stellar events such as supernovae, but which are short-lived. There is a limit to how many protons and neutrons a nucleus can hold – too many and the excess will literally ‘pop out’. These limits are known as the proton and neutron ‘drip lines’.Although these drip lines can be calculated, getting experiments to agree is another issue. Even finding them experimentally can be a difficult prospect.  read more

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