Isotopes
Atoms of the same element must have the same number of Subatomic particle with a positive charge and a relative mass of 1. The relative charge of a proton is +1., but they can have different numbers of Uncharged subatomic particle, with a mass of 1 relative to a proton. The relative charge of a neutron is 0.. Atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons are called Atoms of an element with the same number of protons and electrons but different numbers of neutrons.. Isotopes of an element have:
- the same The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Also called the proton number.
- different The number of protons and neutrons found in the nucleus of an atom.
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Three isotopes of hydrogen
All hydrogen atoms contain one proton (and one Subatomic particle, with a negative charge and a negligible mass relative to protons and neutrons.), but they can contain different numbers of neutrons. Hydrogen-1 is the most common isotope of hydrogen.
All three isotopes of hydrogen have identical chemical properties. This is because the number of electrons determines chemical properties, and all three isotopes have one electron in their atoms.
An isotope is named after the element and the mass number of its atoms. For example, carbon-12 is an isotope of carbon with a mass number of 12.
An introduction to how protons, neutrons and electrons make up atoms