stable_isotopes¶
-
plasmapy.particles.
stable_isotopes
(argument: Optional[Union[str, numbers.Integral]] = None, unstable: bool = False) → List[str]¶ Return a list of all stable isotopes of an element, or if no input is provided, a list of all such isotopes for every element.
- Parameters
- Returns
StableIsotopes – List of all stable isotopes of an element, sorted from lowest mass number. If an element has no stable isotopes, this function returns an empty list.
- Return type
list
of strings or empty list- Raises
InvalidElementError – If the argument is a valid particle but not a valid element.
InvalidParticleError – If the argument does not correspond to a valid particle.
TypeError – If the argument is not a string or integer.
Notes
There are 254 isotopes for which no radioactive decay has been observed. It is possible that some isotopes will be discovered to be unstable but with extremely long half-lives. For example, bismuth-209 was recently discovered to have a half-life of about 1.9e19 years. However, such isotopes can be regarded as virtually stable for most applications.
See also
known_isotopes
returns a list of isotopes that have been discovered.
common_isotopes
returns isotopes with non-zero isotopic abundances.
Examples
>>> stable_isotopes('H') ['H-1', 'D'] >>> stable_isotopes(44) ['Ru-96', 'Ru-98', 'Ru-99', 'Ru-100', 'Ru-101', 'Ru-102', 'Ru-104'] >>> stable_isotopes('beryllium') ['Be-9'] >>> stable_isotopes('Pb-209') ['Pb-204', 'Pb-206', 'Pb-207', 'Pb-208'] >>> stable_isotopes(118) []
Find unstable isotopes using the
unstable
keyword.>>> stable_isotopes('U', unstable=True)[:5] # only first five ['U-217', 'U-218', 'U-219', 'U-220', 'U-221']