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He-4 nucleus is "doubly magic". (The He-4 nucleus is unusually stable and tightly bound for the same reason that the helium atom is inert: each pair of protons and neutrons in He-4 occupies a filled 1s nuclear orbital in the same way that the pair of electrons in the helium atom occupy a filled 1s electron orbital). Consequently, alpha particles appear frequently on the right-hand side of nuclear reactions.

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