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Helium-2, 2 He, is extremely unstable. Its nucleus, a diproton, consists of two protons with no neutrons.According to theoretical calculations, it would be much more stable (but still β + decay to deuterium) if the strong force were 2% greater. [18]
Of the 26 "monoisotopic" elements that have only a single stable isotope, all but one have an odd atomic number—the single exception being beryllium. In addition, no odd-numbered element has more than two stable isotopes, while every even-numbered element with stable isotopes, except for helium, beryllium, and carbon, has at least three.
Helium-4 is an unusually stable nucleus because its nucleons are arranged into complete shells. It was also formed in enormous quantities during Big Bang nucleosynthesis. [113] Helium-3 is present on Earth only in trace amounts. Most of it has been present since Earth's formation, though some falls to Earth trapped in cosmic dust. [114]
The helium atom. Depicted are the nucleus (pink) and the electron cloud distribution (black). The nucleus (upper right) in helium-4 is in reality spherically symmetric and closely resembles the electron cloud, although for more complicated nuclei this is not always the case. Helium-4 (4 He) is a stable isotope of the element helium.
Helium-3 (3 He [1] [2] see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. (In contrast, the most common isotope, helium-4, has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-3 and protium (ordinary hydrogen) are the only stable nuclides with more protons than neutrons. It was discovered in 1939.
While only helium-4, oxygen-16, calcium-40, and lead-208 are completely stable, calcium-48 is extremely long-lived and therefore found naturally, disintegrating only by a very inefficient double beta minus decay process. Double beta decay in general is so rare that several nuclides exist which are predicted to decay by this mechanism but in ...
This page lists radioactive nuclides by their half-life.
From a thermodynamic perspective, a substance is inert, or nonlabile, if it is thermodynamically unstable (positive standard Gibbs free energy of formation) yet decomposes at a slow, or negligible rate. [1] Most of the noble gases, which appear in the last column of the periodic table, are classified as inert (or unreactive).