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I recently learned that Bismuth is actually radioactive with its longest lived isotope having a half-life of about 20 quintillion years.
(For source, see: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01541)
As a very basic question, what determines whether an element/isotope will be radioactive? Is there something special about certain isotopes that makes them stable? Are no elements truly stable, but just have half-lives too long to accurately measure?
(For source, see: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01541)
As a very basic question, what determines whether an element/isotope will be radioactive? Is there something special about certain isotopes that makes them stable? Are no elements truly stable, but just have half-lives too long to accurately measure?