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Name:  Daniel
Status:  educator
Age:  30s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000-2001
Question:
Is there a theoretical upper limit on the size of an atom, and how stable are extremely large atoms predicted to be?

Replies:
Dear Daniel,

I'm not aware of any theoretical limit.

I'm not sure how large you are asking about, but stability is a very difficult thing to predict for huge atoms. Relativistic effects become important for the core electrons (especially) as the atomic number increases, and there is no completely covariant quantum mechanics yet that can be used to do such calculations (at least not to my knowledge!).

Best regards,
Prof. Topper


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