A newly observed isotope of oxygen is defying all our expectations for how it should behave.
It’s oxygen-28, with the highest number of neutrons ever seen in the nucleus of an oxygen atom. Yet, while scientists believe it should be stable, it decays rapidly – calling into question what we thought we knew about “magic” numbers of particles in the nucleus of an atom.
The nucleus of an atom contains subatomic particles called nucleons, consisting of protons and neutrons.
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