indeed it seems so, i thought all atoms (except hydrogen) had some kind of decay. i thought so called stable atoms still had half-lives of 10^{very large number} years.
If we're talking about these kinds of scales, N2 molecules are not stable because there's a non-zero probability for the atoms to fuse into a heavier element through tunneling. And this will release more than enough energy to break the chemical bonds, of course.
Also, bismuth was once thought to be the most massive "fully" stable element, but turns out does decay with a half life of 10^19 years, compared to the universe's age of ~10^10 years.
Neutrons decay into a proton/electron pair after 15 minutes when not part of a nucleus.
Protons appear to be fully stable for any practical considerations, however they might decay after 10^30 years.
In this scenario, you can think of a reaction as terminating a molecule's life. So if there's a 50% chance that an H2O (or CO2) molecule reacts in a certain period, that could be its half-life time.
cyberax|9 months ago
hnuser123456|9 months ago
Also, bismuth was once thought to be the most massive "fully" stable element, but turns out does decay with a half life of 10^19 years, compared to the universe's age of ~10^10 years.
Neutrons decay into a proton/electron pair after 15 minutes when not part of a nucleus.
Protons appear to be fully stable for any practical considerations, however they might decay after 10^30 years.
tgv|9 months ago
SJC_Hacker|9 months ago
Baeocystin|9 months ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20080725045740/http://www.solari...
jasongill|9 months ago