| Astrophysics (Index) | About |
Nickel (Ni) is the element with atomic number 28, symbol Ni. It has five stable isotopes. It is thought be the product of supernova nucleosynthesis. Nickel-58 (i.e., mass number 58) is the most common isotope; several nucleosynthesis paths lead to it. Nickel-56 is created by the alpha process, but is unstable, generally decaying into iron-56 through two beta decays. Nickel-62 is very stable, having the highest binding energy of any nucleus (even more than iron-56), but is not abundant because nucleosynthesis paths to it include low-probability steps.