Talk:List of elements by stability of isotopes

Is this data up to date?
I was under the impression that some of the elelemnts listed here as stable do in fact exhibit decay. Bismuth is actually unstable (though for most practical purposes can be considered stable).


 * "Bismuth was found to be hypothetically unstable in 2003, with an α-emission half-life of 1.9 × 1019 years for Bi-209."

The alpha decay of Bi-209 was experimentally measured in 1951 by Compt. Rend. 232, 2093 (1951). NSR ref = 1951FA10. The t1/2 was given as 3e17y. I pulled this from the TOI 4th ed. (1953). It is also mentioned in Asimov's "Inside the Atom" page 110 (1956). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.43.24.150 (talk) 09:47, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

--ManInStone 08:19, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Rational of subject matter
If you're trying to understand the rational of this subject matter I suggest that you take a look at the the various pages of the lanl Map of the Nuclides where the chart is presented in such a manner as to allow a cognitive understanding of relationships of occurence of stable isotopes between the various elements. WFPMWFPM (talk) 18:45, 9 September 2008 (UTC) If you are interested in trends of atomic stability within the periodic table be aware that the majority (more than 200 out 0f 280+) of stable isotopes are of the category EE (150+0 and OE (50+) and that trend lines including these stable elements have the formula A = 3Z - an even number.WFPMWFPM (talk) 00:31, 14 September 2008 (UTC)Also note that the first odd Z element on the stability list is 19K, which is 39th on the list.WFPMWFPM (talk) 13:25, 17 September 2008 (UTC)