The metal tin lacks the value and prestige of gold, silver, and platinum — but to nuclear physicists, tin is magic.
Rutgers physicists recently reported studies on tin that add knowledge to a concept known as magic numbers while perhaps helping scientists to explain how heavy elements are made in exploding stars.
Their research methods could also help other scientists and engineers develop next-generation nuclear reactors and gather forensic evidence in case rogue states or terrorists ever deploy nuclear weapons.
Physicists who study the nuclei of atoms — the dense cluster of protons and neutrons at the atom's center — apply the "magic" moniker to elements with a certain number of protons or combination of protons and neutrons. At these numbers — 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126 — the protons and neutrons are tightly bound together, giving many "magic" elements a high degree of stability in their nuclei.
