nuclear stability of atoms

Nuclear stability

Stability of atom is the ability of that atom to maintain its nuclear constituent without losing them; they do not change to other nuclei without the addition of energy from outsides.

A stable nuclide is any nuclei that is not radioactive, a nuclide that do not decay spontaneously, stable nuclide do not emit alpha, beta or gamma ray and therefore do not have half life.

  The level of stability of atomic nuclides varies bases on the ratio of protons to neutrons in the nucleus of the atom, protons with even number of protons and neutrons tend to be more stable than nuclide with odd number of nucleons.

 Nuclide with their atomic number or neutron number of 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126 are extremely stable, the number 2, 8, 20, 50, 82 and 126 are said to be magic numbers .therefore atomic nuclide with magic number of protons or neutrons are unusually stable more than other nuclide without the magic number of nucleons. The effect of the magic number is same as how the numbers of electrons in the outermost shell of atoms of noble gases make them extremely stable. It is well known that atoms of noble gases are chemically inactive due to their configuration likewise nuclide with magic number of nucleons are extremely stable. Examples are helium, oxygen, calcium, lead etc.

 Nuclide with either proton number or neutron number above 70 are likely to be unstable, the more the mass of an atoms increase the less the stability of the nuclides, smaller nuclei are much stable than larger nuclei. Stable nuclei do not undergo radioactivity or nuclear transmutation.

 A summary of the stability of general nuclides is follows, nuclides with atomic mass between 50 to 100 are very much stable, there is no tendency for nuclear change to occur between this ranges, nuclide with mass less than 30 are has irregularities in their stability. Those with  nucleon number in the multiple of helium, meaning their atomic mass are in the multiple of 4 and proton number are in the multiple of 2 collectively are much stable than the adjacent ones.   In heavier nuclei there is a general decrease in the stability of nuclides as the atomic mass increases with remarkable increase in stability of nuclides with magic number of nucleons.