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<TITLE>Nuclear states of the LaTeX kind</TITLE>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">It is wrong Gord; the correct nomenclature is</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Upper left 180m</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">, bottom left 73 on the elemental name Ta</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> if you want to use the formulaic version but in inline text this is correct too</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">T</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">antalum-180m”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">The 73 is redundant here but useful in nuclear formulas</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> for keeping track of</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">the number of</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">protons and neutrons during</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">nuclear</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">reaction …</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">All of this to describe the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> 1st</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">metastable</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">isomer of tant</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">alum-180</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> whose half-life unusually is</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">$</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">\approx 10^{15}</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">$ ~</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> years</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">The upper</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> right position is reserved for charge</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">+5, in your example</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">and the bottom right for number of.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">NIST is a fine organisation</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">(</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">whose databases I frequently use</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">)</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> but</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">it does not set standards for the world scientific community</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">t</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">his is normally done by international organisations</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> agreeing to set rules, nomenclature, etc., etc.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">John</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">Emeritus Professor John Simmie::Combustion Chemistry Centre::NUI Galway, Ireland</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Gordon Haverland wrote</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> \ce{^{180}Ta^m5+}</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">it looks wrong to have the m after the elemental symbol to me. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">I've no idea if that typesets correctly. What looks better using mhchem (to me) is</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> \ce{^{180m}Ta^5+}</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"><FONT FACE="Calibri">But this has been an enlightening topic.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ie"></SPAN></P>
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