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What causes unstable atom?

What causes unstable atom?

When the atoms of an element have extra neutrons or protons it creates extra energy in the nucleus and causes the atom to become unbalanced or unstable.

What is an unstable atom?

An unstable atom has excess internal energy, with the result that the nucleus can undergo a spontaneous change towards a more stable form. This is called ‘radioactive decay’. Each element exists in the form of atoms with several different sized nuclei, called isotopes.

Why do neutrons make an atom unstable?

Too many protons (or too few neutrons) in the nucleus result in an imbalance between forces, which leads to nuclear instability. If the attractive interactions due to the strong nuclear force are weaker than the electrostatic repulsions between protons, the nucleus is unstable, and it will eventually decay.

Which is the most unstable atom?

Unstable isotopes decay through various radioactive decay pathways, most commonly alpha decay, beta decay, or electron capture. Many rare types of decay, such as spontaneous fission or cluster decay, are known….Tables.

Element ytterbium
unstable in italics odd neutron number in pink 174 Yb
172 Yb
173 Yb
171 Yb

How do elements become stable?

Many atoms become stable when their valence shell is filled with electrons or when they satisfy the octet rule (by having eight valence electrons). An atom stabilizes by bonding with another atom in order to fill out its outer set of electrons in its shell.

What elements are stable as atoms?

List of stable nuclides

  • Hydrogen-1.
  • Hydrogen-2.
  • Helium-3.
  • Helium-4 no mass number 5.
  • Lithium-6.
  • Lithium-7 no mass number 8.
  • Beryllium-9.
  • Boron-10.

What makes an atom stable or unstable?

Atoms found in nature are either stable or unstable. An atom is stable if the forces among the particles that makeup the nucleus are balanced. An atom is unstable (radioactive) if these forces are unbalanced; if the nucleus has an excess of internal energy.

Why are heavy elements unstable?

The secret is in the very heavy elements made in supernova explosions. Many of the elements heavier than lead have nuclei so large that they are fairly unstable. Due to the instability, over time they eject a neutron or proton, or a neutron in the nucleus decays into a proton and electron.

Why synthetic elements are unstable?

The mechanism for the creation of a synthetic element is to force additional protons onto the nucleus of an element with an atomic number lower than 95. All synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates: their half-lives range from a few hundred microseconds to millions of years.

How do you make an atom stable?

Some atoms are more stable by gaining or losing an entire electron, or several electrons. Whey they do so, atoms form ions, or charged particles. Electron gain or loss can give an atom a filled outermost electron shell and make it energetically more stable.

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