Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Isotope Stability

The Volatile Chemist - 20-5-2014 at 13:21

Just curious, how were tables of isotope stability produced? Number crunching, or experimentation? I did do some searches on this, I wasn't able to find anything. If there's math in finding it all out, I'd like to give it a try...

phlogiston - 20-5-2014 at 13:59

Usually by experimentation, although isotope tables do exist where predicted values are added as well, often to show the possible island of stability of heavy atoms that are theorized to be relatively stable.
Impossible to know what is the case with your specific table, ofcourse, without knowing which table you are referring to.

It is not trivial to calculate isotope stability, and it is currently still actively being studied.

[Edited on 20-5-2014 by phlogiston]