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Robert Zaleski
Besides the radioactive elements, do the other elements on the Periodic Table of the Elements have half-lives?
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Rust, I guess, Fz+.
Lurch, I have never heard this.
Are you pulling legs?
"Thinking about it some more. If everything has a half-life, does everything end up decaying into hydrogen and then disintegrating into subatomic particles from there?"
What were the ingredients of the 'Big Bang' soup?
Originally posted by selfAdjoint
I don't think anyone has ever seen a proton decay. The 10^30 years figure (now pushed up to 6*10^32, I believe) is a lower limit. They got it by observing 10^30 protons for a year and none decayed.
Originally posted by alchemist
if what is said is true,that all elements have a half-life, then it means that they would continue to disintegrate over time and would there be a stage where they would become the simplest form of particles and therefore stop disintegrating?
A half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of a given quantity of a substance to decay or transform into a different element.
Half-lives are a characteristic property of radioactive elements. They determine the rate at which these elements decay, or break down, into more stable elements.
No, non-radioactive elements do not have half-lives. These elements are already stable and do not undergo radioactive decay.
The periodic table organizes elements by their atomic structure and properties. Half-lives can vary greatly between different elements and can even change within the same element based on its isotopes, which are identified by their atomic number on the periodic table.
Yes, scientists can use mathematical formulas and experimental data to accurately predict the half-life of a radioactive element. However, the actual rate of decay may vary slightly due to external factors such as temperature and pressure.