Question

If an element is composed of atoms with an atomic number of 6 and a mass number of 14 then a neutral atom of this element contains?

Answer 1

Answer:

Proton 6

Neutron 8

Electron 6

Explanation:

A neutral atom of an element is one that is not charged. There are 2 deciders if the neutrality of an atom. These are the electrons and the protons. Since the electrons are positively charged leading to a net positive core(nucleus), there must be a mechanism that supplies same amount of negative charges to maintain the electrical neutrality of the atom.

Since they both carry similar albeit opposite charges, the number of electrons would be equal to the number of protons. This is essentially why an atom is adjudged to be electrically neutral.

Now to get the number of neutrons in an atom, we simply subtract the proton number from the mass number.

In this case specifically, the number of neutrons is 14 - 6 = 8

Since it has also been said that the atom is neutral, the number of electrons too will be 6 electrons