Answer:
C. The mass of an electron is much less than the mass of a proton or
a neutron.
Explanation:
When we compare the mass of an electron to that of proton or neutron, the mass of an electron is much less than the mass of a proton or a neutron.
Electrons are negatively charged particles in an atom
Protons are positively charged particles
Neutrons do not carry any charges.
- The relative mass of an electron compared to that of a proton is
- This is a very small value
- Electrons generally have mass of 9.11 x 10⁻³¹kg
- Protons weigh 1.67 x 10⁻²⁷kg
- Neutrons weigh 1.68 x 10⁻²⁷kg
We can see that electrons have very small mass and this is why when calculating the mass of an atom, we use the sum of the number of protons and neutrons.