Question

“I know what the atomic number of this atom is, but I don’t know what the number of electrons is,” a friend says. How would you respond?

Answer 1

Once the atomic number of an atom is known, the number of electrons can be deduced depending on if the atom is an ion or a neutral one.

Atomic number

The atomic number of an atom is the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom.

For atoms that are neutral, that is, no net charges, the number of protons is always equal to the number of electrons. In other words, the positive charges always balance the negative charges in neutral atoms.

Thus, if the atomic number of a neutral atom is 6, for example, the proton number will also be 6. Since the proton must balance the electron, the number of electrons will also be 6.

More on atomic numbers can be found here; brainly.com/question/17274608