<h2>A neutral chromium – 52 atom has 24 protons, 24 electrons and 28 neutrons.
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Further Explanation
The given substance, chromium – 52, is an isotope of chromium. The way it is written is called the hyphen notation of an isotope.
- An isotope is like a version of an atom that has a different number of neutrons.
- The hyphen notation gives the name of the element and the mass number of the isotope is written after the hyphen.
- The mass number gives information about the number of neutrons an atom has. It is the total number of protons and neutrons that are found in the nucleus of an atom.
In this case, the nucleus of the chromium – 52 atom has a total of 52 subatomic particles in it.
<u>Determining the Number of Neutrons in an Atom
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To determine how many of the particles in the nucleus are neutrons, the atomic number of the atom is used.
- Atomic number is the number that gives the atom its identity and can be found in the periodic table. It gives the number of protons in an atom.
- In the most simple periodic table of elements, the atomic number is usually the smaller number written in the tile for each element. The larger number is the mass number.
- It can be observed that the atomic number of the elements are increasing by one unit as you go from left to right.
The difference between the larger mass number and the smaller atomic number is the number of neutrons:
<em>Number of Neutrons = Mass Number - Atomic Number
</em>
The atomic number of chromium is 24, therefore, its number of neutrons can be determined using the equation:
- <em>Number of Neutrons = 52 – 24
</em>
- <em>Number of Neutrons = 29.
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<u>Determining the Number of Electrons in an Atom
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The number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of protons. Since the number of protons is equal to an element’s atomic number, then the number of electrons is:
<em>Number of electrons = Number of protons = Atomic Number
</em>
Since chromium has an atomic number of 24, then it has 24 protons and 24 electrons.
<h3>Therefore, it has been determined that the chromium – 52 atom has 28 neutrons 24 protons and 24 electrons. </h3>
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Keywords: protons, neutrons, electrons, mass number, atomic number, hyphen notation
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