How will you know if a particular nucleus iHow will you know if a particular nucleus is stable?s stable?

Answer 1

The nucleus will be stable if it has 8 outer electrons. All the elements on the farthest right side are called the noble gases, they are the most stable and will not react because they have a complete set of electons. The only reason atoms do anything is to be come like the noble gases.

Answer 2

A nucleus that has a high ratio of neutrons to protons is likely to be unstable, and therefore, radioactive. (For example, tritium, an isotope of hydrogen which contains two neutrons is radioactive,
while regular hydrogen and dueterium which contain no neutrons and one neutron, respectively, are not.)

Also, atoms with an odd number of protons are more likely to have radioactive isotopes than atoms with even numbers of protons.

Finally, neutrons help to hold the positive protons together in the nucleus - but after about 83 protons, it becomes impossible. After bismuth (83), all elements are radioactive.