The effect has mainly been observed on alkaline atoms which have nuclear properties particularly suitable for working with traps. As of 2012, using ultra-low temperatures of  or below, Bose–Einstein condensates had been obtained for a multitude of isotopes, mainly of alkali metal, alkaline earth metal,
and lanthanide atoms (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and ). Research was finally successful in hydrogen with the aid of the newly developed method of evaporative cooling. In contrast, the superfluid state of  below  is not a good example, because the interaction between the atoms is too strong. Only 8% of atoms are in the ground state of the trap near absolute zero, rather than the 100% of a true condensate.
The bosonic behavior of some of these alkaline gases appears odd at first sight, because their nuclei have half-integer total spin. It arises from a subtle interplay of electronic and nuclear spins: at ultra-low temperatures and corresponding excitation energies, the half-integer total spin of the electronic shell and half-integer total spin of the nucleus are coupled by a very weak hyperfine interaction. The total spin of the atom, arising from this coupling, is an integer lower value. The chemistry of systems at room temperature is determined by the electronic properties, which is essentially fermionic, since room temperature thermal excitations have typical energies much higher than the hyperfine values.