If you are talking to a scientist, you might expect them to discuss studies or research or any number of other scientific things.

What would you think if they started talking about magic numbers and how a never-before-seen form of oxygen has made them question which numbers are really magic?

While it may sound weird, it isn’t far from the truth of the situation that some scientists are facing today.

First, magic numbers aren’t what they sound like. A magic number, in the context of studying molecules and atoms, are numbers of protons or neutrons in an atom that can form a nuclear shell. When a nuclear shell is formed, the atom is stable and does not quickly decay.

In general, eight is a ‘magic’ number of protons and 20 is a ‘magic’ number of neutrons. If an atom has a magic number of both protons and neutrons, it has the very scientific sounding name of being ‘doubly magic.’

So, when scientists at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory created oxygen-27 and oxygen-28 for the first time ever, they expected oxygen-28 to be stable (with 8 protons and 20 neutrons). They were surprised that, once created, it almost immediately decayed into another isotope.

There are other examples of times when these normally magic and double magic numbers do not form a stable isotope. Specifically, isotopes of the elements neon, sodium, and magnesium with 20 neutrons do not remain stable. This is so unusual, however, that scientists have called these isotopes part of the ‘island of inversion.’

The scientists who formed the oxygen-27 and oxygen-28 isotopes went through a lot of trouble to get this done. They had to start by taking some calcium-48 and firing it at a ball of beryllium, which knocked off some protons and neutrons.

Some of that resulting material was fluorine-29, which they then collided with liquid hydrogen. This resulted in knocking away a proton, creating oxygen-28 for the first time. All this is happening at a microscopic level, so it is far from easy to accomplish.

The study on this was published in Nature, and the scientists say that additional research is going to be needed to determine why oxygen-28 did not behave as expected.

Who knew oxygen could be so unpredictable.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!