A New Isotope of Sodium - Periodic Table of Videos

Researchers in Japan create Sodium-39 - and pushing the boundaries of the so-called drip line. More links and info in full description ↓↓↓
Calcium-48: • $500,000 of Calcium - ...
Heavy Water: • Heavy Water - Periodic...
Superheavy elements: • Superheavy Elements - ...
Videos on all 118 elements: bit.ly/118elements
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From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
This episode was also generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: www.bradyharan.com/
Brady's Blog: www.bradyharanblog.com
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[@Panamazin]

It is very humble of Professor Martyn to say in some of his videos "I don't know." For such a high level academic, it certainly shows that the more you know, the more you know you know less. Very Socratic of him. Long live Sir Martyn!

[@apveening]

True experts aren't afraid to tell you they don't know, implicitly stating they wish to expand their knowledge. It is fun tripping up "experts" by pointing out their mistakes in things they know for certain.

[@zadrik1337]

Science is pushing the boundries of your own ignorance. There is verry little I don't know, but then I am not very well educated!

[@squiggly_lines]

If he says he doesn't know you should assume that he knew at one time but forgot. I guarantee that he knew about the dripline at one point in his career and just forgot. Just know that this man has probably forgotten more than any of you smoothbrains have ever known.

[@braddofner6407]

The more you know, the more aware you are of how much you truly don't know. If someone claims to know everything, they probably know nothing. And that which they do know, is probably incorrect.

[@Gakulon]

Isotopes always felt like a footnote in my chemistry classes, I feel like I learned more about them in my Geology classes! I'm always happy to learn more in my knowledge gaps

[@cptntwinkletoes]

Interestingly you learn quite a bit about them in physics!

[@Yora21]

Number of protons defines how the nucleus interacts with electrons. The neutrons are of no relevance to the electrons. The electrons of atoms create the chemical bonds between them. As such, the neutrons have no impact on the chemical properties of an atom. And therefore are not relevant to chemists. This video really is a physics subject.

[@karhukivi]

@@Yora21 Not quite true - heavy i.e. deuterated water has some different chemical properties to normal water. But generally, the chemical differences are small. Where high energies are involved )physics) or long time periods (geology) then isotope physics and chemistry become relevant.

[@dragonridley]

​@@Yora21 There are some slight chemical differences between isotopes, especially for lighter elements. The heavier isotope will tend to have slightly higher activation energies and be slightly harder to melt or evaporated. These slight differences can even be useful for some types of analysis. There are uses for isotopes such as carbon-13 and oxygen-18 in some chemical analysis.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Isotopes... The physics underlying chemistry. Simple.

[@SolarWebsite]

I would love a video about the Island of Stability, and the progress (if any) towards reaching that.

[@ltcorsa2519]

If I remember correctly a ytuber named baby broccoli made a video about the island of stability.

[@0neIntangible]

@@ltcorsa2519 Yes, *Bobby Broccoli made an excellent one, with outstanding graphics, explaining it very well.

[@floppa24]

@@0neIntangible whats the vid called?

[@ThePeterDislikeShow]

I hope it's an isotope of moscovium. I want to make a crystal of it just like bismuth.

[@goytabr]

@@ThePeterDislikeShow, I'm by no means an expert on that (I'm not even a chemist!), but I believe it's a misnomer. It would actually be an island of *relative* stability, in which isotopes could have half-lives of a few *seconds,* which would be an eternity compared to the milli- or microseconds that are usual with those ultra-heavy elements.

[@davidgillies620]

We studied a thing called the semi-empirical mass formula, which as the name suggests is a bit of a lash-up, to describe some of the properties of nuclei based on the number of protons and neutrons. It works quite well, but tends to break down for very neutron- or proton-rich nuclei. It's called the drip line because as you add more and more neutrons to a nucleus it's as if it becomes waterlogged and the neutrons "drip" back out of it again. There's a corresponding proton drip line on the other side of the isotope diagram, but it's a lot better characterised than the neutron drip line.

[@1_2_die2]

Is that chart of isotopes publicly available, maybe as hi-res image or PDF? Thank you all for your ongoing engagement over so many years.🖖

[@davidkolsch7317]

i'd love to have that chart as well, let's hope

[@jpaulc441]

Do an image search for "chart of nuclides" or "chart of nuclides poster" and you might find a hi-res one.

[@sudazima]

wiki page on isotopes has one

[@GLITCH_-.-]

Me wants it too! But remember you can't add urls in your comment or it will be blocked.

[@Yora21]

Isotope table or isotope chart will get you plenty of results.

[@alexpotts6520]

"There is no experimental value in knowing how many people can fit into a Mini, especially since the Mini has got bigger over the years" To be fair, so have the people...

[@samuelh1766]

Very intriguing for a new isotope for such a common element to be discovered!

[@purplezart]

more videos about nagayasu nawa's dripline chart, please!

[@linuspoindexter106]

Fun fact: 1H is also known as "protium".

[@gregmottram292]

I appreciate that the Professor states when he does not know an answer but then sets out why.

[@ScienceDial]

I have been watching your videos for years. Even before I started my education and changes my major from Biology to Biochemistry. I am nearly a senior in my degree plan at the University of Texas, and quite regretfully I've never commented until realizing just how profoundly you have reached through to me with all that I've learned from you. Everytime I watch your videos I see the man you were in your glory days in the lab, and I'll see you no different for all of my time. I can't wait to be half of the incredible scientist you are.

[@kjamison5951]

Sir Martyn comes from a long line of exceptional people. They have all contributed wonderful things.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

So happy to see a new vid on this channel! Figured it was back catalogue that I hadn't seen yet but just noticed you posted 12 hrs ago. Great to see that the prof is still hale and hardy! Poliakoff is a world treasure 😄

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Same here. And he follows and explains to us current cutting edge research findings!

[@bulldog.stone.product]

Please keep making these videos, all of your team are amazing individuals. I've been following your channel for 17+ years now. I used your videos to teach my kids about chemistry and even did a few experiments with them inspired by all of you individuals. Every single one of you have hearts of gold and the wold needs more people like all of you. Thank you so much!

[@burakc9673]

Love all your videos and am so excited everything I learn from you !!🎉

[@paulw3182]

Thank You! Glad to see your still making videos! Would love a pdf of that chart! Cheers!

[@johnmiller2689]

That chart is AWESOME!!! I wish I had that back in school.

[@renerpho]

I am looking at the Wikipedia article about "isotopes of sodium" right now. It lists Na-39, and the source they give is a paper from 2018. Ahn, D.S.; et al. (2018). "New isotope of 39Na and the neutron dripline of neon isotopes using a 345 MeV/nucleon 48Ca beam". RIKEN Accelerator Progress Reports. Vol. 51. p. 82.

[@alexpotts6520]

Still, looking at that page, we know essentially nothing about Na-39 apart from "it exists". They have question marks next to the proposed decay modes, also the half-life is "between 400ns and 1ms" which is a range of over three orders of magnitude.

[@undefinednan7096]

As far as I can tell, the 2018 paper was essentially a preliminary announcement that RIKEN had found 39Na -- note that it's a RIKEN progress report. At the time they hadn't finished their data analysis. The 2022 paper is that work completed and published (COVID probably substantially delayed publication -- in the research group I work for, there are several papers that started the submission process pre-covid that have only recently been gotten back to).

[@riverbender9898]

Always enlightening and educational. Thank you for your work.

[@MrHyperpolyglot]

Very informative. I'm glad I've found this channel.

[@samnater]

Awesome and interesting as always!

[@DanVH]

Thanks for the great work you do. I love your videos.

[@FhtagnCthulhu]

In grad school I had to edit a fellowship proposal from a student in nuclear physics who talked about the dripline. It was so far over my head. Even in geology where we think about isotopes a lot more than most chemists do, this was a whole new world of considerations. Remains one of the most baffling things I have ever had to read critically.

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Thanks for sharing this great video love watching

[@davidjones6661]

I really want a video of the professor doing a sodium percarbonate soak/scrub of his periodic table mug, the buildup on the inside is in great need of cleaning!

[@HansLasser]

😂

[@danciruli5360]

I am a longtime Numberphile fan...it was so strange to watch this video and hear Brady's voice from behind the camera!

[@andrewahern3730]

If you’re new here, I envy you. Enjoy.

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you. I am thankful for the light stable isotopes. They kept me busy in the research laboratory for several decades.

[@epincion]

Thanks that was very informative

[@Magmafrost13]

Ive been looking for that chart for a while ever since I first saw it in a physics lab a few years ago. Anyone know where I can find it?

[@GLITCH_-.-]

Me wants it too! But remember you can't add urls in your comment or it will be blocked.

[@Yora21]

Searching for isotope chart or isotope table will give you plenty of results.

[@landsgevaer]

Not exactly the identical layout perhaps, but a search for "nuclide chart" will get you very close...

[@jansalomin]

Look for the table of nuclides

[@Kane69022]

I need this as a poster

[@romuloromero2268]

What a great video. Thank you

[@Life_42]

Life is great when y'all upload a video!

[@alptekinakturk4185]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much.

[@jpdemer5]

Fun fact: Even nuclei with the same number of protons and neutrons can have "nuclear isomers": differences in particle spins, or even just the shape of the nucleus. This is much more than an obscure bit of physics trivia: Technetium-99m is widely used in medical imaging, and it works by transitioning from a metastable nuclear state (the "m" in the name) to the ground state, emitting gamma radiation in the process.

[@Yaivenov]

I love the isotopic table of elements!

[@ferretyluv]

My chemistry teacher told me that chemists care about electrons while nuclear physicists care about the nucleus.

[@acme_tnt8741]

That is a very impressive chart.

[@Cosper79]

In 30 seconds the Professor explained isotopes to me perfectly.

[@Patmccalk]

6:40 and this is why the professor is such an incredible person. Even at his current age, he’s still willing to admit when there is something he does not know, a true legend of a human, and someone we can all aspire to emulate in that regard 👌

[@ronstoppable1133]

In scientific circles, you're very much encouraged to say "i don't know" when you don't know the answer. And can be a source of excitement in fact; Because that would mean there's more things for you to discover 😁

[@allezvenga7617]

Thanks for your sharing

[@WIIGGYX]

Never clicked on a video so fast before

[@LFTRnow]

I'm not sure if anyone realizes this from the video but Na-39 is not stable. Stable elements are the grey boxes in that chart (which is a zoom of the standard Table of Nuclides which plots protons vs total). Googling the data found Na-39 to have a ~1.5 second half-life. The "drip-line" is looking to see not which elements are stable (which would be unprecedented to find something that unbalanced and stable) but instead looks to see if the element can be made to exist at all, even if it naturally decays away nearly instantly.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

It is a given that particle accelerators look for short-lived radioactive isotopes. By the way: What you call an "element", is actually an isotope. The element Sodium (Na) has 21 known isotopes, one of them stable (Na-23), the other 20 radioactive and decaying.

[@chaosopher23]

I have that chart (almost all of it) in a late 1950's book, Nuclear Reactor Physics. The stuff I can find in thrift stores & yard sales!

[@HappyBear376]

Dr Dandylion is awesom.

[@GalacticTommy]

😭damn he don’t deserve that

[@GeertDelmulle]

That is: Sir Professor Dr. Dandelion, to you. (;-p)

[@HappyBear376]

@@GalacticTommy A nickname his students have for him with respect and affection.

[@phonotical]

This man has been knighted, you show some respect

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

He is such a fluffy boy! Yes he is! The fluffiest boy ever!

[@geoffgeoff143]

So interesting. Thankyou

[@feandil666]

the chaos of the universe borne out of relatively simple relationships never cease to amaze

[@Svensk7119]

That picture of the chart! The isotope worm!! That's what it looked like! I believe also that isotopes can be further divided. They are isomers, if I recall. The best way I have found to think of them is the same number arranged in a different pattern.

[@8bitboxing]

What! I haven't got notifications from the channel in a long time!

[@SirSquash]

ive been extracting this stuff for years now from the tears of nerds i beat in online games.

[@user-gf7zf9sx7w]

very interesting video.

[@PopeLando]

6:00 You can't use this photo to fool us that the experiment was highly complex. That's just a picture of the patch panel for our office's 40-desk network.

[@jpdemer5]

Working chemists, when they use an atomic weight of an element in calculations, are actually using an average of the various isotope weights of that element. It's the reason the "weight" of chlorine, for example, is 35.45 and not a nice round number.

[@benjabby]

2:22 the entire field of Clown Physics would disagree with you there Professor

[@landroveraddict2457]

🤣🤣

[@JG-vq7td]

nice! after all, they are called nu-clowns for a reason. 🤡

[@erebasu]

Splendid

[@ArkiverUnifiedEnergy]

Magnificent Professor! 😏😁😏

[@WhirlingSteel]

6:06 so important to note. The average laymen believes science to have stagnated somewhat because there are no Neumann's when in fact there likely are they just work as a collaborative now.

[@treyquattro]

I think there are new isotopes of tea in that mug!

[@gordonlawrence1448]

I immediately wondered if the isotope used in a chemical reaction could make a significant difference to reaction rates at room temperature. I suspect for some of the weirder reactions that need cold this might be true but at room temperature?

[@alexpotts6520]

Very slightly, reaction rates etc do vary by isotope. This is why heavy water is (mildly) poisonous. The human metabolism is delicate enough that the slightly different kinetics of deuterium compared to hydrogen would fatally screw over your biochemistry if all the hydrogen in your body was replaced by the heavier isotope. But in general the difference in reactivities is so slight as to be unnoticeable in normal lab reactions.

[@funtitan4378]

The lighter the element, the bigger the change in characteristics. Deuterium weighs essentially twice as much as Hydrogen-1, so it has the most drastic change in characteristics. Meanwhile, Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 are immensely difficult to separate because their masses only differ by a very small fraction

[@johnmiller2689]

The dripline should be used to predict the "isle of stability" for super-heavy elements.

[@yukishy7060]

Always a great day when I see a notification from here

[@zzztopspin]

Can't wait for a periodic video about the nuclear shell model!!!

[@timefoambathray9339]

best channel

[@averydaily]

I love the analogy of the mini Cooper to the drip line.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Now if only we could make nuclides like sodium-39 and magnesium-40 in bulk, then we could make a beam of _those_ (accelerate them before they decay, as is planned with muons) to send at actinoid targets to make superheavy elements that are not neutron-deficient, and find out whether making superheavy elements more neutron-rich actually increases their half life or just shifts them over to spontaneous fission (from the examples of fermium and nobelium, I suspect that the latter will turn out to be correct).

[@jimsvideos7201]

Sodium, of all things; I'm sure the Professor got a smile out of that. 🙂

[@BackYardScience2000]

Sodium is my favorite element. I just love how it explodes in water. The most I've ever thrown in water at one time was probably around 100 g and that wasn't insane explosion! This summer, we are going for an entire kg and water! That's going to make a great video. Hahahahaha!😊

[@Dman6779]

fact

[@w9400wg]

Try a kg of anti-sodium for an even more impressive explosion.

[@deltalima6703]

Do you make it or buy it?

[@lasagnahog7695]

I feel so dang smug whenever the Professor mentions that some people will remember an episode and I'm one of those people.

[@JamesMidgleyChem]

Damn! And there was me thinking a drip line was when the distracted barman overfilled my glass

[@shdwbnndbyyt]

I find that the structured nucleus theory appears to predict the stability & breakdown products of isotopes the best.

[@goytabr]

I knew that this isotope couldn't be stable (no isotopes much lighter or heavier than the stable isotopes can be also stable, and this one is about 70% heavier than stable sodium-23!), so I was curious to see what its half-life was and searched for it. I found that the half-life hasn't been precisely measured yet, but it's supposed to be somewhere between 400 *nanoseconds* and 1 *microsecond!* It blows my mind that they can detect only nine atoms of such an incredibly fleeting isotope! I also found that sodium-39 is believed to undergo beta decay and become magnesium-39 --- which, however, hasn't been discovered yet and, if it exists, it's probably even more unstable --- or maybe shed one or two neutrons along with the beta particle and become magnesium-37 or -38 (which *have* been discovered and have half-lives of a couple milliseconds, becoming in turn aluminium-something, and so on).

[@soylentgreenb]

Protons in the nucleus repell each other due to electrical charge. For light elements it doesn’t matter so much and they are most stable with about as many neutrons as protons. The heavier you go the more the charge matters as it is longer ranged than the strong force. A really heavy nucleus like uranium-235 is quite stable with a massive surplus of neutrons. If it fissions it makes two light elements with a great surplus if neutrons; they are often beyond the neutron drip line and that’s why you get a few free neutrons to continue to reaction. The unstable isotopes that are not beyond the drip line still have too many neutrons and they move towards stability by beta decay; this converts a neutron into a proton and an electron, and the electron gets enough energy to fly away and cause harm; this is beta radiation. The nucleus that undergoes beta decay is not necessarily at ground state and may emit gamma radation; very energetic photons. Gamma rays are the nuclear equivalent of flame colours as you put a salt into a flame or ionize mercury or sodium vapour in a lamp; there is just a lot more energy involved in shuffling nucleons than shuffling electrons.

[@Veptis]

the 3D version of that chart is much more fun than the periodic table

[@balaam_7087]

“They managed to observe 9 atoms of Sodium 39. This is really not a huge number of atoms.” As someone with no chemistry background, I found this part hilarious 🤣

[@deltalima6703]

Should have told you how much all 9 of them put together weigh.

[@grebulocities8225]

How is RIKEN's project to synthesize elements 119 and 120 coming along so far? I gather they must not have detected and confirmed any atoms so far, but are they making progress and how much beam time does that get? Now that Oak Ridge is probably not going to be able to collaborate with Dubna, RIKEN is our best bet to get new elements in the near future. I'd love to hear any updates from them on that, even if it's something like "we've been slamming Ti-50/V-51/Cr-54 into Cm/Bk/Cf for years and no events yet".

[@gcewing]

The theoretical limit for the number of people in a mini is 100. You put Maxwell Smart in the front and Ninety-Nine in the back.

[@mikecawood]

More magic (science really) from Martyn to make us happy.

[@aussieausbourne1]

I'm making this comment before watching the entire video so I don't spoil my hypothesis but based on what the professor seems to be talking about at the beginning reminds me of back in high-school during a chemistry lesson about stable and unstable molecules where all I could think about was how the use of certain unstable atoms as building blocks in a molecule could lead to other stable but utterly impossible molecules that contain the stable remains or the once unstable atom like some crazy plutonium salt that decays into some really useful bismuth or lead salt that can usually only be made as a limited byproduct of extremeophile biochemistry. Okay sorry about that let's see what he's actually on about shall we.

[@bertarissen6568]

Besides the neutron to proton ratio is important for stability, so is the number of protons and/or neutrons. Neutrons, although uncharged do have magnetic spin and like to pair up, like electrons. And so there are what we call magic numbers of nucleons and 28 is such a magic number.

[@deltalima6703]

Why did you call the spin "magnetic spin"?

[@morkovija]

my hope in life is to see scientist reach the island of stability

[@blue5659]

Is it possible to change the local higgs field, like a charged plate can change e field, etc. So that the masses of nuclei change, including the muons and w/z bosons affecting the half lifes of all nuclei?

[@timgooding2448]

Your office is a fire hazard Professor.

[@cdl0]

The simple answer to Brady's question on nuclear stability is that these "magic" numbers represent the nuclear equivalent to filled orbitals in chemistry; thus, these special nuclei have relatively low total energies.

[@Yrouel86]

I wonder if in regard of the synthetic elements of which only few atoms have been made there is some that could be stable or at least with a longer half-life but we made the "wrong" isotope instead

[@kyokkyuu]

This concept is called the "Island of Stability", and it is of great interest to a variety of scientists. I believe one is hypothesized to exist somewhere between elements 112-116 (I don't remember exactly), but reaching it would require significantly heavier isotopes than we have currently produced. Even then, it is still theoretical. Worth watching for any breakthroughs!

[@garethdean6382]

This is considered likely, given that lighter isotopes are 'neutron-poor' compared to stable heavier ones. So building a heavy atom from lighter ones should tend to produce a nucleus that would be more stable with more neutrons.

[@alexpotts6520]

The isotope of plutonium that is easiest to make, by bombarding U-238 with neutrons, is Pu-239. However, it is not the most stable isotope, Pu-244 is harder to make but has a much longer half-life.

[@rasco81]

Exactly what I needed to wake up to

[@pauljackson3491]

As more neutrons are added in a nucleus can they push protons to the middle and farther away from the electrons? That would increase the distance, by a miniscule amount, between the protons and electrons so therefore changing the chemical characteristics. Would it do anything?

[@garethdean6382]

No. Protons and neutrons occupy independent 'nuclear shells', adding more neutrons forces THEM further from the center, even forming 'halo nuclei' where a neutron may be almost detached from the nucleus proper. Generally it takes a lot of energy to move a proton or neutron 'up' a level so new particles generally just pile on, part of what limits how many can be added.

[@rocketpsyence]

So here's a question.....are there isotopes that are impossible to create but only because we aren't able to create the conditions in a lab to have them be more stable or does it not matter? I'm just thinking of a situation where the rate of decay can be affected relative to us by how fast particles are made to move. Sorry if this is dumb I struggled through one chemistry class in college and went "WHELP guess I'm sticking with physics 😂" binging this channel is probably the most chemistry I've ever had in my life

[@petarvanj4343]

We need to study Na-39 and Plutonium 205 reactions

[@JonWallis123]

Slower panning at 1:39 and 1:49 would have been nice - and less motion-sickness inducing, too.

[@guessundheit6494]

Stable and non-radioactive isotopes generally have constant proton to neutron ratios. For elements with atomic numbers 1-20, it's about 1:1,0; elements 21-45, between 1:1.1 to 1:1.3; and elements 46 to 82, it goes up to 1:1.5. It is very rare for elements to have fewer neutrons than protons, and nearly (?) all of them are radioactive (e.g. Carbon 11), just as they are radioactive if they have too many neutrons. If a non-radioactive calcium atom can have a proton to neutron ratio of 1:2.0, could larger stable elements have fewer neutrons (e.g. could there be a Lead 180?)?

[@garethdean6382]

Yes, it's a possibility. Work like this attempts to improve our models of the nucleus to narrow down what might be possible (and illuminate what we don't yet know.)

[@marysalibi6290]

What about the opposite of a dripline? Like, the least possible number of neutrons. That sounds interesting!

[@grexursorum6006]

What surprised me most is the fact, that there seems to be a drip line in the "how little direction" too. It seems logical, that the nucleous falls appart if you put to much stuff in there, but too little not so much. Physics, always up for a surprise :-)

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

I'd say the opposite is true: given that protons electrostatically repel each other it's not surprising that a nucleus becomes unstable if they're too proton-dense, but it doesn't seem obvious why there'd be a limit on the number of neutrons.

[@Bobby-fj8mk]

@@MatthijsvanDuin - and if the professor doesn't know then no one can be sure.

[@grexursorum6006]

@@MatthijsvanDuin still not convinced :-) the strong force which binds the core together is only strong on short distance. On large distance electrostatic forces win. So if you remove the neutrons the core should in my imagination be even stronger. Obviously I miss something here, because reality is different. But I think I made my argument more understandable.

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

@@grexursorum6006 But the strong force acts between all nucleons, both protons and neutrons, so that doesn't give an _obvious_ reason for the proton/neutron ratio to affect stability, while electrostatic interaction should favor a lower proton/neutron ratio. If your argument is that you'd simply expect sufficiently large atoms to be less stable then sure that's true but the neutron drip line clearly isn't a limit on total size. (Of course in the end the only right answer here is "the reality of what's going on inside a nucleus is too complicated for simple intuition", as unsatisfying as this may be.)

[@calvinhobbes7504]

I have wondered what would happen if you kept cramming neutrons into a nucleus ... I wonder if there's some point when they get to the heavier (sub-uranium) elements when the atom will simply spontaneously fission itself ("we don't WANT that many neutrons!") - It will be very interesting to see where this goes! BTW - Sir Martyn is one of my heroes. I don't have that many. :)

[@steveschulte8696]

Experimental physicist continue the add isotope on the drip line. There is another drip line of neutron light isotopes. There is instability of the forces interior to the nucleus (strong forces) that results in conversion of mass into energy and mass for the two types of beta radiation and for alpha radiation and neutron radiation. If you look at the valley of stability (grey stripe) you can calculate the mass loss in the creation of the nucleus. The model of a fixed arrangement of neutrons and protons is wrong. The nucleons are constantly changing "genders" through the exchange of quarks. The makeup of the nucleus has little consequence to a chemist other than the atomic weight of the atom or molecules. Particle emissions may break the chemical bonds in molecules, hence radiation disease and cancers.

[@jonmarquez128]

Wait what? Another isotope of Sodium!

[@billychi6961]

The nucleus and it’s mass effect the zero point energy of the bond. Isotopes can drastically change the speed of the reaction especially if quantum tunnelling is involved

[@Zzznorch]

For me the most interesting isotope is Potassium-40. It fascinates me that it has three possible methods of transmuting: Beta-, Beta+ and Gamma. All seeming to depend on what mood it has at a particular moment 😂

[@Waterdust2000]

So the dripline expresses what has been attempted an successfully made. Does this go in reverse to make that element lighter instead? What did we learn from those experiments if anything? What do we hope to achieve with any of this data? Do we have a better way to make these without just smashing them in a cannon like that, even if only in theory?

[@lindakilmer2548]

I was just watching the NEWS and they were talking about how math and science curricula was established. The boards had no one that had Mathematics or science advanced education. Do you feel that high school education would benefit if people with advanced education were in charge of developing those curricula?

[@keithnorris6348]

I think you would enjoy this very clever model of the atom (SAM) by Edwin Kaal : The Proton-Electron Atom. A proposal for a. Structured Atomic Model (SAM).

[@darkangel2347]

Sodium is one of 27 elements with only one stable isotope.