https://xkcd.com/2860

Alt text:

Unlike an Iron Age collapse, a Bronze Age collapse releases energy, since copper and tin are past the iron peak on the curve of binding energy.

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12 points

I don’t know how many of those are legit and how many are humorous

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1 point

Can you prove that the collapse due to the invasion of the sea people isn’t real? Until you can, I fully accept it as a real type of decay.

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6 points

First row is real. Second row, not so much.

That said, the “one big nucleon” is pretty close in concept to a neutron star. It needs a few more nucleons than there are in a single atom though. Just a few. And it’s not really a decay mode as it is a gravitational effect.

It’s also kind of reminiscent of superatoms - clusters of atoms that act like one single atom - but that is very much not the same. (The nuclei aren’t fused. They maintain regular, sensible, atomic distances. Electrons are free to pass between. etc.)

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2 points

What do you mean? They’re all completely real

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