¶ Magic Numbers
← Magic Numbers: Isotopal Magic Numbers | Magic Numbers →
Index Entry
Magic Numbers:
"… There has emerged an impressive pattern of special and fairly regularly positioned behaviors of the relative abundances of isotopes of all the known atoms of the known universe. (SEE ILLUSTRATION _____.)
"Looking like a picture of a mountainside ski run in which there are a series of skump upturns of the run, there is a series of sharp upwardly-pointing peaks in the overall descent of this relative abundance of atomic isotopes curve which originates at its highest abundance in lowest atomic number elemental isotones. These peaks are know as the magic numbers. The peaks are approximately congruent with the atoms of highest structural stability.
"The magic numbers are: 2, 8, 20, 82, and 126 !
“… We identify those numbers in an absolute synergetic hierarchy which must transcend any derogatory suggestion of pure coincidence alone, for the coincidence reoccurs with mathematical regularity, symmetry and structural logic which identifies it elegantly as the model for the magic numbers.”
