Nickel-78 is a ‘doubly magic’ isotope which means it would be far more stable if synthesized
For nuclear physicists, ‘doubly magic’ describes atomic nuclei that have greater stability than their neighbors thanks to having shells that are full occupied by both protons and neutrons. Theoretical physicists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently used Titan, America’s most powerful supercomputer, to compute the nuclear structure of nickel-78, consisting of …