Question

If an unknown element has a mass of 17 and contains 6 neutrons, how many protons does it have ?

Answer 1

The mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons within an atom and since we know that the unknown element has 6 neutrons, we can simply subtract the number of neutrons from the mass number to get the number of protons.

17 - 6 = 11

There are 11 protons in this unknown element.

Extra:

The number of protons (+) and electrons (-) are equal in a neutral atom so since you know that there are 11 protons you also know that there are 11 electrons. On the periodic table, the element with 11 electrons is Na or Sodium.

Hope this helps! :)