alt.sci.physics

Dear nottoooily:

On Oct 2, 3:00 pm, nottooo...@ wrote:
> On Oct 2, 2:24 pm, "N:dlzc D:aol T:com \(dlzc\)"
> wrote:
>
> > Dear nottoooily: wrote in message
>
> >news: @ ...
> > ...
>
> > > Half-lives have been predicted for many undiscovered
> > > elements and they identified an 'island of stability' up
> > > there somewhere. I don't think this has actually been
> > > observed yet.
>
> > Correct. We can approximate the correct number of
> > protons (via collision of lighter nucleii), but nowhere
> > near enough neutrons.
>
> That's a pity. Do you suppose it might be possible to
> get these 'stable' isotopes as decay products of much
> heavier atoms? Presumably it's slightly easier to make
> a very heavy unstable nucleus than one of these special
> ones.

Probably not. We'd have to have an "opportune" (actually miraculous)
simultaneous collision of 3 or 4 nucleii, and hope that enough
electrons could be captured to convert protons to neutrons (and
neutrinos, of course).

The stuff probably exists in Nature... near a neutron star, or a few
dozen atoms in a supernova remnant.

David A. Smith