Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Max. Number of Neutrons 
Name: N/A
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What is the most number of neutrons that can be in an element?


Replies:
If the atom is not stable, and disintegrates quickly, you might find that it could have almost 200 neutrons in its nucleus. But this does not mean much, because it does not exist for very long. Now let us talk about STABLE elements. The most neutrons in any stable element turns out to be 126, found in lead-208 and bismuth-209. And if we want to stretch our rule about stability, we might include the common isotope of uranium, uranium-238. This has 146 neutrons, and is almost stable. Its half-life is 4 billion years!


Click here to return to the Physics Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory