One of two or more atoms which display a constant difference A – Z between their mass number A and their atomic number Z. Thus, despite differences in the total number of nuclear constituents, the numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of isotones are the same. The numbers of naturally occurring isotones provide useful evidence concerning the stability of particular neutron configurations. For example, the relatively large number (six and seven, respectively) of naturally occurring 50- and 82-neutron isotones suggests that these nuclear configurations are especially stable. On the other hand, from the fact that most atoms with odd numbers of neutrons are anisotonic, one may conclude that odd-neutron configurations are relatively unstable.