With seven protons and two neutrons, the lopsided atomic nucleus of nitrogen-9 pushes the limits of what can even be considered a nucleus.

Nuclei with varying numbers of neutrons are called isotopes of an element. So, isotopes of iron include iron-54 with 26 protons and 28 neutrons, iron-56 with 26 protons and 30 neutrons, and iron ...

The finding could be put to use at a new facility opening in 2020 that might create new elements—that is, nuclei with more than 118 protons—in addition to new isotopes of the known elements ...

Scientists may have just caught their first glimpse of an ultra-rare version of nitrogen containing five more protons than it can stably hold. Scientists discovered hints of the new isotope ...

Astronomers at Leiden University have detected rare isotopes of carbon and oxygen in our neighboring stars for the first time ...

The challenge is to create such isotopes by bombarding target nuclei rich in protons and neutrons with a beam of projectiles having the right number of protons, and also rich in neutrons, to yield ...

Protons and neutrons occupy particular orbits, analogous to electrons, but they also have a property called spin —similar to a spinning top.

The latest to be discovered is tin-132, which has 50 protons and 82 neutrons. This isotope is special because it’s the first double magic isotope to also be both radioactive and neutron-rich.

Elements can exist as different isotopes, which contain the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. As an example, the most abundant stable isotope of carbon has six protons and ...

The newfound uranium, called uranium-214, is an isotope, or a variant of the element, with 30 more neutrons than protons, one fewer neutron than the next-lightest known uranium isotope.

This illustration of the nuclear landscape shows atomic isotopes arranged by an increasing number of protons (up) and neutrons (right). The dark blue blocks represent stable isotopes, while the ...