Chemical element Chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms having the same number of protons in their atomic nuclei (that is, the same atomic number, or "Z"). For example, the atomic number of oxygen is 8, so the element oxygen consists of all atoms which have exactly 8 protons. 118 elements have been identified, of which the first 94 occur naturally on Earth with the remaining 24 being synthetic elements. There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope and 38 that have exclusively radionuclides, which decay over time into other elements. Iron is the most abundant
Even and odd atomic nuclei 162, and 165+ can also alpha decay.) This gives a total of 101 stable nuclides with odd mass numbers. There are another 9 radioactive primordial nuclides (which by definition all have relatively long half lives, greater than 80 million years) with odd mass numbers. Odd-mass-number nuclides are fermions, i.e. have half-integer spin. Generally speaking, since odd-mass-number nuclides always have an even number of either neutrons or protons, the even-numbered particles usually form part of a "core" in the nucleus with a spin of zero. The nucleon with the odd number (whether protons or neutrons) then form a second core with