...
¹⁰He	¹¹Li	¹²Be	¹³B	¹⁴C	¹⁵N	¹⁶O	¹⁷F	¹⁸Ne	¹⁹Na	²⁰Mg
¹⁸B	¹⁹C	²⁰N	²¹O	²²F	²³Ne	²⁴Na	²⁵Mg	²⁶Al	²⁷Si	²⁸P	²⁹S

Instructions for using templates in the isotope table[edit]

The isotope table article has caused trouble for several users because it is too big for certain web browsers' editors (more than 90 kB), e.g. typographical errors have been introduced by the software. Partly to reduce file size (less than 45 kB) and partly to make the isotope table easier to edit, a few templates have been introduced for use in this article.

Here are instructions for using the templates, plus an excerpt from the isotope table code and a demonstration of what the isotope table will look like. See for instance the links to Tritium and Carbon-14, and the two-coloured cell of Al-26.

Using the templates[edit]

Template	Explanation and comments
Template	Syntax	Effective text
{{Iso1}}	{{Iso1\|Nr\|Symbol\|X}}	title="{{Iso/X/text}}" style="background:{{Iso/X}};" \| <small><sup>Nr</sup></small>Symbol
	{{Iso1\|Nr\|Symbol}}	title="Unstable" style="background:white;" \| <small><sup>Nr</sup></small>Symbol
	One-coloured cells X is member of "ROYGBIV-" and represents a red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet or white background colour of a whole table cell. If X is omitted, the colour defaults to white. Nr and Symbol represent atomic number and chemical symbol and are rendered as ^NrSymbol. Symbol may contain links, e.g. `[[Helium-4\|He]]` is rendered as He.
{{Iso2}}	{{Iso2\|Nr\|Symbol\|X\|Z}}	title="Isotope: {{Iso/X/text}}; Nuclear isomer: {{Iso/Z/text}}" style="background:{{Iso/Z}};" \| <div style="background:{{Iso/X}};"> <small><sup>Nr</sup></small>Symbol</div>
	{{Iso2\|Nr\|Symbol\|X}}	title="Isotope: {{Iso/X/text}}; Nuclear isomer: Unstable" style="background:white;" \| <div style="background:{{Iso/X}};"> <small><sup>Nr</sup></small>Symbol</div>
	Two-coloured cells X and Z are members of "ROYGBIV-" as mentioned above. X is the background colour of the text, and Z is the border colour of the table cell. If Z is omitted, the border defaults to white. Nr and Symbol are the same as above. In principle this template could be used for both one- and two-coloured cells. However, this template yields more text than the first one, calls the double number of sub-templates, and also displays misleading popup titles if used in one-coloured cells. Therefore it should only be used when there is actually a need for two colours.
The following templates are generally not used independently, but are called by Iso1 and Iso2 using the variables X and Z: {{Iso/R}}, {{Iso/O}}, {{Iso/Y}}, {{Iso/G}}, {{Iso/B}}, {{Iso/I}}, {{Iso/V}}, and {{Iso/-}} contain colour codes, e.g. red is `#A9A9A9` {{Iso/R/text}}, {{Iso/O/text}}, {{Iso/Y/text}}, {{Iso/G/text}}, {{Iso/B/text}}, {{Iso/I/text}}, {{Iso/V/text}}, and {{Iso/-/text}} contain legends to the colours, e.g. the legend to yellow is "10k–103M years"

How the colors are assigned[edit]

category	color	category	color
-		V
I		B
G		Y
O		R

Adding a drip line[edit]

Whereever you want to add the proton or neutron drip line to the chart, add the option |drip= with one of the values t (top), r (right), tr (top-right), tl (top-left), trb (top-right-bottom), tb (top-bottom), tlr (top-left-right), b (bottom), l (left), bl (bottom-left), br (bottom-right), blr (bottom-left-right), lr (left-right), or tlb (top-left-bottom) to the cell template Iso1 or Iso2, as demonstrated in the example below. To avoid confusion, only specify drip lines from inner cells.

{{Iso2|1070|Uxq|O|drip=trb}}

¹⁰⁷⁰Uxq

Or in empty cells: {{Iso1|drip=bl}}

Explanation of background colours[edit]

**Half-lives** (example: Gd)
¹⁴⁵Gd	< 1 day
¹⁴⁹Gd	1–10 days
¹⁴⁶Gd	10–100 days
¹⁵³Gd	100 days–10 a
¹⁴⁸Gd	10–10,000 a
¹⁵⁰Gd	10 ka–700 Ma
¹⁵²Gd	> 700 Ma
¹⁵⁸Gd	Stable

**Half-lives** (example: Gd)
¹⁴⁵Gd	< 1 day
¹⁴⁹Gd	1–10 days
¹⁴⁶Gd	10–100 days
¹⁵³Gd	100 days–10 a
¹⁴⁸Gd	10–10,000 a
¹⁵⁰Gd	10 ka–700 Ma
¹⁵²Gd	> 700 Ma
¹⁵⁸Gd	Stable

The background colour of each isotope's cell indicates the isotope's physical half-life. See colour chart to the right. Differently coloured borders indicate half-lives of the most stable nuclear isomer states.

To insert this colour chart in an article, add the following tag:

{{isotope colour chart}}

The template takes an optional, nameless parameter that may be used to add styles such as table width or font effects, or override the default styles. The styles are given as a semicolon-separated list using colon as the assignment operator, e.g.:

background:pink; font-style:italic;

The parameter is separated from the template name with a pipe ("|"), and the full template call becomes:

{{isotope colour chart | background:pink; font-style:italic;}}

The result is shown to the lower right.

Excerpt from the isotope table code[edit]

 {| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="1" width="100%"
 |+ '''List of known [[isotope]]s'''
 |-
 ![[proton|p]] →
 !1
 !2
 ...
 |-
 !2
 |{{Iso1|3|[[Tritium|T]]|O}}
 |{{Iso1|4|[[Helium-4|He]]|R}}
 |{{Iso1|5|Li}}
 |{{Iso1|6|Be}}
 |{{Iso1|7|B }}
 |{{Iso1|8|C }}
 ![[Nitrogen|N]]
 !8
 |-
 !3
 |{{Iso1|4|[[Hydrogen-4|H]]}}
 |{{Iso1|5|[[Exotic helium isotopes|He]]}}
 |{{Iso1|6|Li|R}}
 |{{Iso1|7|Be|I}}
 |{{Iso1|8|B }}
 |{{Iso1|9|C }}
 |{{Iso1|10|N }}
 ![[Oxygen|O]]
 !9
 ...
 |-
 |
 !8
 |{{Iso1|10|[[Exotic helium isotopes|He]]}}
 |{{Iso1|11|Li}}
 |{{Iso1|12|Be}}
 |{{Iso1|13|B }}
 |{{Iso1|14|[[Carbon-14|C]]|O}}
 |{{Iso1|15|N |R}}
 |{{Iso1|16|O |R}}
 |{{Iso1|17|F }}
 |{{Iso1|18|Ne}}
 |{{Iso1|19|Na}}
 |{{Iso1|20|Mg}}
 ![[Aluminium|Al]]
 !14
 ...
 |-
 |colspan="4"|
 !13
 |{{Iso1|18|B }}
 |{{Iso1|19|C }}
 |{{Iso1|20|N }}
 |{{Iso1|21|O }}
 |{{Iso1|22|F }}
 |{{Iso1|23|Ne}}
 |{{Iso1|24|Na}}
 |{{Iso1|25|Mg|R}}
 |{{Iso2|26|Al|Y}}
 |{{Iso1|27|Si}}
 |{{Iso1|28|P }}
 |{{Iso1|29|S }}
 |
 ![[Argon|Ar]]
 !19
 ...
 |}

Excerpt from the isotope table[edit]

p →	1	2
n ↓	H	He	3	4
0	¹H		Li	Be	5	6
1	²D	³He	⁴Li	⁵Be	B	C	7
2	³T	⁴He	⁵Li	⁶Be	⁷B	⁸C	N	8
3	⁴H	⁵He	⁶Li	⁷Be	⁸B	⁹C	¹⁰N	O	9
4	⁵H	⁶He	⁷Li	⁸Be	⁹B	¹⁰C	¹¹N	¹²O	F	10
5	⁶H	⁷He	⁸Li	⁹Be	¹⁰B	¹¹C	¹²N	¹³O	¹⁴F	Ne	11
6	⁷H	⁸He	⁹Li	¹⁰Be	¹¹B	¹²C	¹³N	¹⁴O	¹⁵F	¹⁶Ne	Na	12
	7	⁹He	¹⁰Li	¹¹Be	¹²B	¹³C	¹⁴N	¹⁵O	¹⁶F	¹⁷Ne	¹⁸Na	Mg	13
	8	¹⁰He	¹¹Li	¹²Be	¹³B	¹⁴C	¹⁵N	¹⁶O	¹⁷F	¹⁸Ne	¹⁹Na	²⁰Mg	Al	14
		9	¹²Li	¹³Be	¹⁴B	¹⁵C	¹⁶N	¹⁷O	¹⁸F	¹⁹Ne	²⁰Na	²¹Mg	²²Al	Si	15
			10	¹⁴Be	¹⁵B	¹⁶C	¹⁷N	¹⁸O	¹⁹F	²⁰Ne	²¹Na	²²Mg	²³Al		P	16
				11	¹⁶B	¹⁷C	¹⁸N	¹⁹O	²⁰F	²¹Ne	²²Na	²³Mg	²⁴Al	²⁵Si		S	17
				12	¹⁷B	¹⁸C	¹⁹N	²⁰O	²¹F	²²Ne	²³Na	²⁴Mg	²⁵Al	²⁶Si	²⁷P		Cl	18
				13	¹⁸B	¹⁹C	²⁰N	²¹O	²²F	²³Ne	²⁴Na	²⁵Mg	²⁶Al	²⁷Si	²⁸P	²⁹S		Ar	19
				14	¹⁹B	²⁰C	²¹N	²²O	²³F	²⁴Ne	²⁵Na	²⁶Mg	²⁷Al	²⁸Si	²⁹P	³⁰S	³¹Cl		K	20
					15	²¹C	²²N	²³O	²⁴F	²⁵Ne	²⁶Na	²⁷Mg	²⁸Al	²⁹Si	³⁰P	³¹S	³²Cl	³³Ar		Ca

Discussion[edit]

Popup titles in the isotope table cells[edit]

Popup titles displaying half-lives when hovering over table cells were added in January 2006. For background and discussion see Talk:Isotope table (complete)#Alternatives for displaying colour legend.

13 July 2006 edit[edit]

Presumably this was for performance, but there was no documentation and it was by an anon IP. Is there any way we can tell how this change actually affects performance? --JWB 21:44, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed color changes[edit]

Here is a proposal for splitting the longer-lived categories into more precise bands, with the colors based on interpolation of the present ones. Red is left as stable here, so this proposal is disjoint from the one at Talk:Isotope table (complete)#Red to gray?. Or, if we do adopt gray for stable, the 100ky+ categories can be shifted down one color, as the colors for 10k-100k and 100k-1m do not look very distinct, at least on my monitor. --JWB 16:53, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

¹⁴⁵Gd	<1 day
¹⁴⁶Gd	1–10 days
¹⁴⁹Gd	10–100 days
¹⁵³Gd	100d–1 year
¹⁴⁷Pm	1-10 years
¹⁴⁸Gd	10–100 years
²⁴¹Am	100-1000 years
¹⁴C	1000-10000 years
²³⁹Pu	10k–100k years
⁹⁹Tc	100k-1m years
¹⁵⁰Gd	1m-10m years
¹²⁹I	10m-103m years
²³⁸U	700m-14b years
¹⁵²Gd	38b-50q years
¹⁵⁸Gd	Stable

I'm going to give gray (#BBB) a try as nobody has objected. Discuss here or at Talk:Isotope table (complete)#Red to gray?. --JWB 19:04, 28 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another Color proposal[edit]

I liked the Isotope table, but found the coloring scheme a bit counter-intuitive: it seemed to me that "energetic" colors on the warm end of the spectrum should represent the more unstable elements, while cooler colors should go on the more stable end of the scale. Here's a proposed scheme:

**Half-lives** (example: Gd)
¹⁴⁵Gd	<1 day
¹⁴⁶Gd	1-10 days
¹⁴⁹Gd	10-100 days
¹⁵³Gd	100d–10 years
¹⁴⁸Gd	10-10,000 years
¹⁵⁰Gd	10k–103m years
¹⁵²Gd	>700m years
¹⁵⁸Gd	Stable

What do you think? --Erudy (talk) 20:16, 17 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. However, I would suggest finishing the table with the sequence orange > yellow > white for a better lightness gradient. --IanOsgood (talk) 19:57, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good point...although I didn't change the order of the colors (I wanted to keep the traditional coolness/warmth gradient), I lightened the "orange" color into more of a pink to maintain the light/dark gradient. Also I removed one of the more blue colors to reduce ambiguity. How does this appear on other people's screens?

**Half-lives** (example: Gd)
¹⁴⁵Gd	<1 day
¹⁴⁶Gd	1-10 days
¹⁴⁹Gd	10-100 days
¹⁵³Gd	100d–10 year
¹⁴⁸Gd	10-10,000 years
¹⁵⁰Gd	10k–103m years
¹⁵²Gd	>700m years
¹⁵⁸Gd	Stable

Erudy (talk) 15:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is also being discussed at Talk:Isotope table (complete)#Red to gray?. Physical color temperature and traditional color symbolism give opposite results. There is also the possibility of using brightness or saturation to indicate stability and reserving color for decay mode or something else, for example as in the unimplemented Wikipedia:WikiProject_Isotopes#Color_scheme. In any case, I want to split up the halflife categories into finer ones. --JWB (talk) 17:55, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting point about the opposition of physical color temperature and psychological color temperature. Personally, I find the "psychological" version more compelling, at least in this context. I think the whole point of a graphical device such as Isotope table is to make information quickly and clearly accessible, and I think the "psychological" spectrum does that better, even if it's not as "accurate". It would be more accurate to lay all the isotopes out in writing on some gigantic spreadsheet, giving their precise half lives etc. Of course such a spreadsheet would be unreadable.

Wikipedia:WikiProject_Isotopes#Color_scheme is certainly an ambitious proposal, and I guess I'm not sure that it is not trying to cram too much information into the available space. I feel like we can communicate one piece of information (length of half-life) in a clear and intuitive way (using of couple dimensions of spectrum, ie "psychological" cold->warm plus dull->bright), or we can try to communicate more pieces of information (length of half life and type of decay) with less clarity ("pastel->saturation/brightness" for one and "scientific" cold->warm for the other) I see the value of communicating type of decay, but wonder if it wouldn't be more effectively done with some sort of symbol rather than a color? Wouldn't having, I don't know, a β tucked into the corner of the box (perhaps underneath the isotope number?) more intuitively communicate beta radiation than the color blue, for instance? (I'm more of an interested layperson than an expert in all this, so maybe there is some sort of connection between the blue and beta radiation, but I don't know it.)

As for adding more "steps" in the spectum, and thus increasing precision, I'd say it's a great idea. However, I also feel that it's a different discussion.Erudy (talk) 16:23, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to be bold and try implementing this on iso1 and iso2Erudy (talk) 19:07, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm finding it harder to read, but I was used to the previous scheme since I've used and edited this page a lot. I do think that color temperature with blue hotter is intuitive to people familiar with any one of many fields like photography, metallurgy, or stellar evolution. Also note the names of the color/halflife templates are still the first letters of the original colors.

I do think that using saturation (the black to white dimension), perhaps along with color, to indicate halflife, would add readability. Currently, very unstable is white and stable is gray, so intermediate halflives should also progress along this scale, even if they also have color.

I've made some attempts to draft tables or lists of isotopes organized by other criteria like halflife; see my user page for links.

Indicating decay mode in some other way than color is not a bad idea if designed well, but it would also have to be implemented, which may be difficult for many schemes. To some extent decay mode is predictable from position on the chart (above the stable sequence, below, or high mass) and it is the exceptions that need to be highlighted. --JWB (talk) 19:42, 21 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still finding Erudy's scheme to be much harder to read. --JWB (talk) 00:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]