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Published online 24 October 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.189

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How many neutrons can an atom hold?

Heavy aluminium and magnesium shed light on atomic question.

Atoms can be more overweight than we thought, a team of scientists in the United States has discovered.

They have sent atoms crashing into one another in a particle accelerator to create bloated versions of the elements aluminium and magnesium.

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  • Interesting, but you didn't give these things a name. How about NuHA's for neutron heavy atoms? I can see the science fiction writers describing a universe of NuHA people - overweight with too many down quarks, and neutral on everything.

    • 25 Oct, 2007
    • Posted by: Stephen Pauley