The liquid drop model also allows the computation of fission barriers for nuclei, which determine the stability of a nucleus against spontaneous fission. It was originally speculated that elements beyond atomic number 104 could not exist, as they would undergo fission with very short half-lives, though this formula did not consider stabilizing effects of closed nuclear shells. A modified formula considering shell effects reproduces known data and the predicted island of stability (in which fission barriers and half-lives are expected to increase, reaching a maximum at the shell closures), though also suggests a possible limit to existence of superheavy nuclei beyond "Z" = 120 and "N" = 184.