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Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by mppm on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @11:24AM (#41058023)
No, the stability of elements peaks at iron and nickel and declines again after that. If you look at the curve of binding energy per nucleon [1], the trend is quite obvious. Note in particular that at some point past uranium, the average binding energy declines to below that of helium, making the isotopes extremely susceptible to alpha particle emission. There are some "islands of relative stability", where heavy elements are stabilized by "magic numbers" of protons and neutrons -- which is why thorium and uranium are so long lived. But we can be quite certain that there is no such thing as Element 200.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Binding_energy_curve_-_co...

Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by AdamH12113 on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @02:04PM (#41059863)
Why does that graph look like it's upside-down? Shouldn't having more binding energy per nucleon make an isotope less stable, not more? Are the energies implied to be negative potential energy?
Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by HPsquared on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @02:33PM (#41060224)
Binding energy = energy released when the nucleons bind together.

In other words, energy required to break them apart.