Through mass measurements of silicon-22 combined with theoretical calculations, researchers have revealed that silicon-22 possesses a double-magic structure similar to that of oxygen-22, while also ...

Physicists have found a new “island of inversion” in the nucleus of molybdenum-84, a perfectly balanced atom with equal numbers of protons and neutrons. The discovery upends a decades-old assumption ...

The word magic is not often used in the context of science. But in the early 1930s, scientists discovered that some atomic nuclei—the center part of atoms, which make up all matter—were more stable ...

Researchers have found new information about the strength of the so-called magic neutron number 50 shell closure in the silver isotope chain. The new more detailed information on the properties of the ...

An experiment carried out at CERN's ISOLDE facility has determined the western shore of a small island of atomic nuclei, where conventional nuclear rules break down. The atomic nucleus was discovered ...

Physicists working with molybdenum-84, a nucleus containing exactly 42 protons and 42 neutrons, have found that this seemingly balanced atom defies one of nuclear physics’ longest-standing ...

The red ball, blue star and black square represent the corresponding results of Rn, Ra and Th isotopes, respectively. In the shell model, the neutron number N=126 is regarded as a neutron magic number ...

Scientists have managed to uncover a new magic number that could help us rethink and redefine the origins of everything that exists in our Universe. A team of physicists at the Institute of Modern ...