Even and odd atomic nuclei beta decay. Also, the nuclear spin is integer for all even-"A" nuclei and non-integer (half-integer) for all odd-"A" nuclei. The neutron–proton ratio is not the only factor affecting nuclear stability. Adding neutrons to isotopes can vary their nuclear spins and nuclear shapes, causing differences in neutron capture cross-sections and gamma spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance properties. If too many or too few neutrons are present with regard to the nuclear binding energy optimum, the nucleus becomes unstable and subject to certain types of nuclear decay. Unstable nuclides with a nonoptimal number of neutrons or protons decay by beta decay (including
Atomic theory emitted from the gas (Rutherford recognized these, because he had previously obtained them bombarding hydrogen with alpha particles, and observing hydrogen nuclei in the products). Rutherford concluded that the hydrogen nuclei emerged from the nuclei of the nitrogen atoms themselves (in effect, he had split a nitrogen). From his own work and the work of his students Bohr and Henry Moseley, Rutherford knew that the positive charge of any atom could always be equated to that of an integer number of hydrogen nuclei. This, coupled with the atomic mass of many elements being roughly equivalent to an integer number of