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> Except in neutron stars and black holes, atoms are very stable.

Radioactive elements excepted, of course.

And when they get struck by ionizing photons.

So I would rather say: non-radioactive atomic nuclei are stable.



Radioactive atoms are just unstable atoms shedding energy to until they fall into a stable atom state.

It's not really atoms falling apart into non-atoms.


To be fair, everything is stable if we restrict ourselves to their stable subsets.


Exactly. It's like saying baked goods are shelf-stable because they degrade into humus, which is shelf-stable.




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