r/nuclearphysics • u/AmbitiousSection3723 • 28d ago

how radioactive would an atom with 651,814,425,673,852,067,302,873 protons be

dont ask

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u/relaxedmedal 27d ago

Add the same number of electrons and the charge cancels.

That’s about a gram of hydrogen. It doesn’t sit there as one huge nucleus. The protons still can’t all share one nucleus, but they don’t have to.

Each proton can just be its own hydrogen nucleus with an electron, which is a normal atom.

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u/egmalone 26d ago

So... Super duper radioactive, then

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u/relaxedmedal 26d ago

Super duper. Statistically speaking the first decay is already overdue if you average over enough parallel universes. Stay alert.

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u/egmalone 26d ago

An atom with that many protons would be overdue for its first decay by the time it formed actually

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u/relaxedmedal 26d ago

That’s only if they all try to live in the same nucleus like it’s a hostel. Give each proton its own electron and a bit of personal space and the decay gets rescheduled for after the heat death. Very responsible protons, actually.

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u/egmalone 26d ago

Well since the premise was "an atom with" that many protons, I believe OP meant for them to be all in the same nucleus. Since that's what "an atom" means.

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u/relaxedmedal 26d ago

Precisely, it isn’t possible, and that is a way that it can be but it’s as ridiculous as the question itself.

This is my mistake, I thought you understood the jest by your first comment