San José State University

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Confirmation of the Proposition that
the Stability of Neutrons within Nuclei as
Opposed to the Instability of Free Neutrons
is Due to Their Being Paired with Protons

A previous study made the case that the stability of neutrons within nuclei can be explained by the nuclear strong force between nucleons being an attraction between like nucleons and a repulsion between like nucleons. There is overwhelming evidence for this from the data on nuclear binding energies. See Strong Force. In contrast the conventional theory of nuclear structure holds that all nucleons are attracted to each other.

Some nuclides are beta ray (electron) emitters. This suggests that such beta emission is associated with a nuclide having a neutron which is not paired with a proton. The following is a list of the pure beta emitters and their half-lives.

The Pure Beta Emitting Nuclides and Their Half Lives
Nuclide Number
of Protons 		Number
of Neutrons 		Half-Life
(seconds) 		Is there a
neutron not
paired with a
proton? 		Is there a
neutron not
paired with a
neutron?
cu-66 29 37 0.035 Yes Yes
pb-209 82 127 1.37 Yes No
pr-145    59 86 2.47 Yes Yes
te-127 52 75 3.85 Yes No
sn-121 50 71 10.8 Yes Yes
ni-66 28 38 22.7 Yes No
y-90 39 51 25.2 Yes Yes
bi-210 83 127 50.4 Yes Yes
er-169 68 101 92.9 Yes Yes
pr-143 59 86 133 Yes No
p-32 15 17 140 Yes Yes
sr-89 38 51 497 Yes Yes
y-91 39 52 576 Yes No
w-188 74 114 684 Yes No
w-188 74 114 684 Yes No
s-35 16 19 864 Yes No
sn-123 50 73 1270 Yes No
ca-45 20 25 1600 Yes No
bk-249 97 152 3160 Yes Yes
ru-106 44 62 3600 Yes No
tm-171 69 102 6840 Yes Yes
pm-147 61 86 9360 Yes Yes
kr-85 36 49 38900 Yes Yes
h-3 1 2 44300 Yes Yes
cd-113m 48 65 50800 Yes Yes
pu-241 94 147 51800 Yes Yes
sr-90 38 52 104000 Yes No
ar-42 18 24 118440 Yes No
sm-151 62 89 324000 Yes Yes
ni-63 28 35 361000 Yes Yes
si-32 14 18 620000 Yes No
ar-39 18 21 969000 Yes Yes
c-14 6 8 2060000 Yes No
tc-99 43 56 756000000 Yes No
se-79 34 45 2340000000 Yes Yes
be-10 4 6 5400000000 Yes No
cs-135 55 80 8280000000 Yes Yes
pd-107 46 61 2.34×1010 Yes Yes
re-187 75 112 1.58×1014 Yes Yes
in-115 49 66 1.58×1018 Yes Yes
cd-113 48 65 3.35×1019 Yes Yes
as-77 33 44 NA Yes No
br-83 35 48 NA Yes No
la-141 57 84 NA Yes No
cm249 96 153 NA Yes No

In no case is there beta emission without there being a neutron without a pairing with a proton. It does not matter whether the neutrons unpaired with protons are paired or unpaired with another neutron. In other words the pairing of a neutron with a proton protects it from decay but pairing with another neutron is not necessary for it to do so. The pairing of a neutron with a proton protects it from decay because the transition of the neutron into a proton would require a significant input of energy to cover the change in the interaction of the two nucleons through the nuclear strong force from the attraction of unlike nucleons to the repulsion of like nucleons.

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