Re: half-life of stable isotopes

In article <doaqmi$p8g$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, keith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Keith A. Schneider) writes:

>How stable are "stable" isotopes? A proton is stable but has a
>theoretical half-life of 10^32 years at least.

The limit by now has been raised, at least to 10^35 as I recall. And
it may be infinite as well.

> I assume that stable isotopes have half-lives less than this (but
>still not easily measureable).

Not necessarily, may be longer.

> What is the half-life of, say, Oxygen-16? Anyone know?
>
All you can say is "no decay has been measured". There is no clear
defining line between stable and unstable. When the lifetime is too
long (even if finite), you just won't detect decays.

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
meron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | chances are he is doing just the same"
.

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