What makes a neutron stable? Due to the fact that the mass of a neutron is greater than the mass of a proton ... therefore any these neutrons are stable in nuclei. As well as possessing no charge, ...

The nucleus ... the atomic mass, the number of neutrons defines the isotope of that element. For example, most carbon (≈ 99 %) has 6 protons and 6 neutrons and is written as 12C to reflect its atomic ...

However as the number of protons increases, more neutrons are needed to keep the nucleus stable. For example lead, lead-206 has 82 protons and has 124 neutrons.

Elements with lower and higher mass numbers per nucleon are less stable. The total mass of a nucleus is less than the total mass of the nucleons that make up the nucleus. This difference is known ...

With that, scientists could also predict which combinations of protons and neutrons can result in a nucleus. The solution to ...

Since electrons have almost no mass, it seemed that something besides the protons in the nucleus were adding to the mass. One leading explanation was that there were electrons and additional ...