Can an element have a different numbers of neutrons?

Can an element have a different numbers of neutrons?

Atoms of a particular element must have the same number of protons but can have different numbers of neutrons. When an element has different variants that, while all having the same number of protons, have differing numbers of neutrons, these variants are called isotopes.

Can different atoms have the same number of neutrons?

Atoms from two different elements may have the same number of neutrons, but never the same number of protons. The number of protons is unique to the element and represents the atomic number.

Can atoms of different elements have the same atomic number?

All atoms of a chemical element have the same atomic number (number of protons in the nucleus) but may have different mass numbers (from having different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus).

How are atoms of the same element different?

ISOTOPES AND ATOMIC MASSES For many of the chemical elements there are several known isotopes. Isotopes are atoms with different atomic masses which have the same atomic number. The atoms of different isotopes are atoms of the same chemical element; they differ in the number of neutrons in the nucleus.

How are atoms of the same element similar and different?

Why do different atoms of the same element have the same atomic number?

Isotopes of any given element all contain the same number of protons, so they have the same atomic number (for example, the atomic number of helium is always 2). Isotopes of a given element contain different numbers of neutrons, therefore, different isotopes have different mass numbers.

Why are atoms of different elements different?

The number of protons in an atom is the defining feature of an atom. It’s what makes one element different from another. The number of protons in an atom is called its atomic number. All the elements in the universe are arranged according to their atomic number in the periodic table.

Do any atoms of different elements have the same mass?

Different isotopes of the same element cannot have the same mass number, but isotopes of different elements often do have the same mass number, e.g., carbon-14 (6 protons and 8 neutrons) and nitrogen-14 (7 protons and 7 neutrons).

Are atoms of a different element different?

An atom is the smallest particle of an element that remain identical to all other particles. The atoms of one element are different from those of all other element. Compounds are made when atoms of different elements are chemically combined together.

How do atoms of different elements differ from one another?

The number of protons in an atom is the defining feature of an atom. It’s what makes one element different from another. The number of protons in an atom is called its atomic number.

How are atoms of different elements different from each other?

What makes atoms of various elements different from each other is their number of protons. In other words, each element is composed of atoms that have a specific number of protons.

Why is it that different atoms of the same element can sometimes have different atomic mass?

Different isotopes of an element have the same number of protons in the nucleus, giving them the same atomic number, but a different number of neutrons giving each elemental isotope a different atomic weight.