  A very simple formula is presented that relates the logarithm of the
half-life, corrected by the centrifugal barrier, with the Coulomb parameter in
proton decay processes. The corresponding experimental data lie on two straight
lines which appear as a result of a sudden change in the nuclear shape marking
two regions of deformation independently of the angular momentum of the
outgoing proton. This feature provides a powerful tool to assign experimentally
quantum numbers in proton emitters.
