The Atom Review

Carbon an essential element of life is known to have 6 protons, 6 electrons, and 6 neutrons.

The more accurate name is carbon- , according to its mass number, the sum of the protons and neutrons.

So it turns out that an atom of carbon can also have 7 neutrons. One more than the usual and its name would be carbon- .

Both carbon-12 and carbon-13 are called . Specifically the isotopes of carbon.

Word Bank

salt

properties

different

electrons

same

An isotope is a group of atoms from an element with the # of electrons & protons, but a number of neutrons.

Isotopes have similar chemical properties because chemical reactions only involve & not neutrons.

An example of this is chlorine-35 & chlorine-37. Both are isotopes of chlorine. But their mass number is different. They both react similarly with sodium to form sodium chloride, NaCl (table ).

On the other hand, the physical properties are affected by mass and because isotopes have different masses, there physical are also different. An example of this is hydrogen-2 or deuterium has a slightly higher boiling point & density than hydrogen-1.

Some isotopes are naturally unstable & emit high energy to reach a stable form. They are called radioisotopes.

Even though they are dangerous to us and can penetrate our , they can be beneficial when handled carefully. In some of the applications, the radioisotopes are detected directly, while in others the radioisotopes make the target substances amidst radiation.

Radioisotopes have many in medicine, defense, archeology, and geology.