In this work, we have used the liquid-drop model in the context of stabilized jellium model, to study the stability of Z-ply charged (Z = 1, 2, 3, 4) metal clusters of different species against fragmentation. The liquid drop energy coefficients for each r(s) value are obtained from fitting of the self-consistent Kohn-Sham results for 0 less than or equal to N less than or equal to 100. The fission barriers are calculated using the two-sphere model. Results show that the singly ionized clusters are stable against any spontaneous fragmentation. However, multiply charged clusters of sufficiently small sizes may undergo spontaneous decay via fission processes. The size at which competition between evaporation and fission starts, is predicted in good agreement with experiment for r(s) greater than or equal to 3.99. (C) 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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