# Extrema in the Table of Nuclides [closed]

Symbolic picture of a nuclid chart:

I would like to know for which $$Z$$ the area in the nuclide map has the greatest width and for which $$N$$ and the greatest height.

Does anyone know?

Note: I don't have such a nuclide map on the wall, otherwise I could look it up myself.

• Isn't this just a case of (slightly tedious) counting? Somewhere around tin, I guess. – Anders Sandberg Jun 5 at 11:25
• @AndersSandberg Why tedious counting? If I had a map like this hanging somewhere (but I don't have it), I take a yardstick and measure it out; I'm not doing it like a complete idiot. Sn (tin) is the element with the most stable isotopes, but not necessarily the element with the most isotopes detected. – cis Jun 5 at 12:46
• Note that any table of the isotopes is limited to the ones detected at some point in time before printing or posting it. But, yes, it is just perusing some version and counting. Z is easy on, say, ENSDF. For N perhaps use Wikipedia in the fatter looking parts. – Jon Custer Jun 5 at 16:31
• The question will then be answered as soon as someone has a nuclide map close by and, lovingly, can measure two lengths for me there. – cis Jun 5 at 18:05
• I’m voting to close this question because it's not about physics. It's about looking up a website and counting. Search on "Table of Nuclides" and do your own research. – Bill N Jun 5 at 23:07

I created an image version of the nuclide chart from Wikipedia:

(You can click it for a larger version – it is actually readable if you zoom in.) There is no date listed there, but I would guess that it is not too old.

By counting, I then found these largest values (I use the index $$_s$$ for "spread" to clarify that I refer to the width/height or number of columns/rows at that point rather than an actual number of $$Z$$ and $$n$$):

• $$Z_s=21$$ for $$n=62, 53$$ and $$65$$
• $$n_s=33$$ for $$Z=36$$ and $$37$$. These are Krypton (Kr) and Rubidium (Rb).

Tin (Sn, $$Z=50$$) has $$n_s=28$$, even below Mercury (Hg, $$Z=80$$) which has $$n_s=30$$ as well as Tellurium (Te, $$Z=52$$), Xenon (Xe, $$Z=54$$), Caesium (Cs, $$Z=55$$) and Gold (Au, $$Z=79$$) which each have $$n_s=29$$.

So the nuclide chart is widest at $$n=62, 53, 65$$ and highest for $$Z=36,37$$. Note that I didn't count the number of cells, but the number of filled cells to determine the extrema.

• Answering these types of non-conceptual "do my work for me" questions only encourages more poor questions. – Bill N Jun 5 at 23:08
• @BillN The responsible user can decide for himself when, where, how and whether he answers a question, it does not need your worldview as a determining yardstick. – cis Jun 6 at 18:23