Is a hydrogen atom stable

Answer 1

No, hydrogen atom is highly unstable itimmediately combines with another hydrogen atom to gain the stability the amount of heat released confirms the instability of one hydrogen atom. [2H] = H2 (-105 K.cal/mole)

Answer 2

That's an interesting question.

Let's get the easy answer out of the way first: monatomic hydrogen is not stable chemically.

Now the more complicated answer about stability in the "radioactive" sense. Bear with me here.

There are three isotopes of hydrogen.

The heaviest, tritium, is 3H. It has one proton and two neutrons. It is an unstable nuclide and decays via beta decay to 3He with a half-life of about 4500 days.

The second heaviest, deuterium, is 2H. It has one proton and one neutron. It is considered a stable nuclide, but see the caveat below.

The lightest (and by far the most common) is 1H. It consists of a single proton, and so it may be a stable nuclide... some theories predict that it's possible for protons to decay. However, experiments have shown that even if it is possible, the minimum value for the half life is at least 6 x 1033 years, which is over 4 million million million million times longer than the current age of the universe, so by any practical standard, it's stable.

If protons decay, then ultimately no atom is stable, and they will eventually all decay (neutrons are known to be unstable, with a half-life of about 10 minutes, unless they are bound in an atomic nucleus - it's possible that being bound into a nucleus could increase the proton's stability as well, but we just don't know).

Answer 3

Yes, a hydrogen atom is stable. It consists of a single proton in its nucleus and an electron orbiting around it. This balance of positive and negative charges keeps the atom intact.