Einsteinium 15 neutrons by uranium-238 nuclei followed by seven beta-decays, and had a half-life of 20.5 days. Such multiple neutron absorption was made possible by the high neutron flux density during the detonation, so that newly generated heavy isotopes had plenty of available neutrons to absorb before they could disintegrate into lighter elements. Neutron capture initially raised the mass number without changing the atomic number of the nuclide, and the concomitant beta-decays resulted in a gradual increase in the atomic number: ^{238}_{92}U ->[\ce{+15n}][6 \beta^-] ^{253}_{98}Cf ->[\beta^-] ^{253}_{99}Es </chem> Some U atoms, however, could absorb two additional neutrons (for a total of
Charge number having stripped off all electrons, the charge number is identical with the atomic number "Z", which corresponds to the number of protons in ordinary atomic nuclei. Unlike in chemistry, subatomic particles with electric charges of two elementary charges (e.g. some delta baryons) are indicated with a superscript "++" or "−−". In chemistry, the same charge numbers are usually indicated as superscript "+2" or "−2". In particle physics, the charge number is a (derived) flavor quantum number. For color-charged particles like quarks and hypothetical leptoquarks, the charge number is a multiple of 1/3. Charge number Charge number ("z") refers to a