
What are isotopes?
An overview of isotopes. Isotope, one of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and position in the periodic table and nearly identical chemical behaviour but with different atomic masses and physical properties. Every chemical element has one or more isotopes. An atom is first identified and labeled ...
How do you identify an isotope of an element?
Isotope. Each atomic number identifies a specific element, but not the isotope; an atom of a given element may have a wide range in its number of neutrons. The number of nucleons (both protons and neutrons) in the nucleus is the atom's mass number, and each isotope of a given element has a different mass number.
Who coined the term isotope in the periodic table?
^ Scerri, Eric R. (2007) The Periodic Table, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-530573-6, Ch. 6, note 44 (p. 312) citing Alexander Fleck, described as a former student of Soddy's. ^ In his 1893 book, William T. Preyer also used the word "isotope" to denote similarities among elements.
How do the properties of isotopes depend on their mass?
Many important properties of an isotope depend on its mass. The total number of neutrons and protons (symbol A ), or mass number, of the nucleus gives approximately the mass measured on the so-called atomic-mass-unit (amu) scale.

How do you identify an isotope of an atom?
Subtract the number of protons from the atomic mass. This is the number of neutrons that the regular version of the atom has. If the number of neutrons in the given atom is different, than it is an isotope.
What is the symbol for the isotope?
0:084:12How to write in Isotopic Symbol - Dr K - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIsotopic symbol is also known as isotope notation or nuclear notation basically it contains threeMoreIsotopic symbol is also known as isotope notation or nuclear notation basically it contains three types of information. The symbol of the element.
What are isotopes with examples?
A group of isotopes of any element will always have the same number of protons and electrons. They will differ in the number of neutrons held by their respective nuclei. An example of a group of isotopes is hydrogen-1 (protium), hydrogen-2 (deuterium), and hydrogen-3 (tritium).
How do you write isotope?
To write the symbol for an isotope, place the atomic number as a subscript and the mass number (protons plus neutrons) as a superscript to the left of the atomic symbol. The symbols for the two naturally occurring isotopes of chlorine are written as follows: 3517Cl and 3717Cl.
What is the formula for isotopes?
This can be done through the following formula: Average Atomic Mass = (Mass of Isotope 1 x Fractional Abundance of Isotope 1) + (Mass of Isotope 2 x Fractional Abundance of Isotope 2) + ...... The average atomic mass has been calculated in this fashion and can be found under every symbol in the periodic table.
What is isotope short answer?
Isotopes are members of a family of an element that all have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. The number of protons in a nucleus determines the element's atomic number on the Periodic Table. For example, carbon has six protons and is atomic number 6.
What is isotopic number?
Definition of isotopic number : the number of neutrons minus the number of protons in an atomic nucleus.
Is an isotope an atom?
Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons and electrons. The difference in the number of neutrons between the various isotopes of an element means that the various isotopes have different masses.
What is an isotope?
An isotope is one of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and position in the periodic table and nearly i...
Why do isotopes have different properties?
Differences in the properties of isotopes can be attributed to either of two causes: differences in mass or differences in nuclear structure. Scien...
When are isotopes stable?
Isotopes are said to be stable if, when left alone, they show no perceptible tendency to change spontaneously. A uniform scale of nuclear stability...
How were isotopes discovered?
The existence of isotopes emerged from two independent lines of research, the first being the study of radioactivity. The unambiguous confirmation...
What does the name "isotope" mean?
The term isotope is formed from the Greek roots isos ( ἴσος "equal") and topos ( τόπος "place"), meaning "the same place"; thus, the meaning behind the name is that different isotopes of a single element occupy the same position on the periodic table.
What is the difference between isotopes and nuclides?
A nuclide is a species of an atom with a specific number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, for example carbon-13 with 6 protons and 7 neutrons. The nuclide concept (referring to individual nuclear species) emphasizes nuclear properties over chemical properties, whereas the isotope concept (grouping all atoms of each element) emphasizes chemical over nuclear. The neutron number has large effects on nuclear properties, but its effect on chemical properties is negligible for most elements. Even for the lightest elements, whose ratio of neutron number to atomic number varies the most between isotopes, it usually has only a small effect although it matters in some circumstances (for hydrogen, the lightest element, the isotope effect is large enough to affect biology strongly). The term isotopes (originally also isotopic elements, now sometimes isotopic nuclides) is intended to imply comparison (like synonyms or isomers ). For example, the nuclides 12#N#6C#N#, 13#N#6C#N#, 14#N#6C#N#are isotopes (nuclides with the same atomic number but different mass numbers ), but 40#N#18Ar#N#, 40#N#19K#N#, 40#N#20Ca#N#are isobars (nuclides with the same mass number ). However, isotope is the older term and so is better known than nuclide and is still sometimes used in contexts in which nuclide might be more appropriate, such as nuclear technology and nuclear medicine .
What is the name of the element that indicates the atomic number?
An isotope and/or nuclide is specified by the name of the particular element (this indicates the atomic number) followed by a hyphen and the mass number (e.g. helium-3, helium-4, carbon-12, carbon-14, uranium-235 and uranium-239 ).
What is the atomic number of carbon?
The atomic number of carbon is 6, which means ...
Which isotope has zero neutrons?
From left to right, the isotopes are protium ( 1 H) with zero neutrons, deuterium ( 2 H) with one neutron, and tritium ( 3 H) with two neutrons. Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element ), ...
Why do different isotopes have the same number of electrons?
Because the chemical behavior of an atom is largely determined by its electronic structure, different isotopes exhibit nearly identical chemical behavior.
How many stable isotopes are there in the universe?
As discussed above, only 80 elements have any stable isotopes, and 26 of these have only one stable isotope. Thus, about two-thirds of stable elements occur naturally on Earth in multiple stable isotopes, with the largest number of stable isotopes for an element being ten, for tin (. 50Sn. ).
Is hydrogen an element?
Hydrogen is the element ! , in that element there are various types of isotopes as protium, deuterium and tritium all are hydrogen elements. Think like this Human is the Element and Male and Female are isotopes.
Is an ion an isotope?
An ion is an atom with a non neutral electric charge; an atom missing or having too many electrons. All atoms are isotopes, regardless of whether or not they are ions. Which isotope the atom is depends on the atomic number (number of protons) and the number of neutrons.
What does the number of protons tell you?
The number of protons tells you which element it is, the sum of neutrons and protons gives you the isotope’s mass number . The number of electrons is irrelevant to the isotope, though the fact that it has more electrons than protons tells me it is an anion. The # of Protons gives you the elements identity, the elements atomic number, ...
How many protons does phosphorus have?
It has 15 protons, which makes it phosphorous (on the periodic table), 15 electrons, so the charges balance and it is electrically neutral, and 17 neutrons, so you have 32 protons/neutrons in the nucleus, so the name is phosphorous-32. 5.2K views. ·. View upvotes.

Overview
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) due to different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. While all isotopes of a given element have almost the same chemical properties, they have differ…
Isotope vs. nuclide
A nuclide is a species of an atom with a specific number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, for example carbon-13 with 6 protons and 7 neutrons. The nuclide concept (referring to individual nuclear species) emphasizes nuclear properties over chemical properties, whereas the isotope concept (grouping all atoms of each element) emphasizes chemical over nuclear. The neutron number has large effects on nuclear properties, but its effect on chemical properties is negligibl…
Notation
An isotope and/or nuclide is specified by the name of the particular element (this indicates the atomic number) followed by a hyphen and the mass number (e.g. helium-3, helium-4, carbon-12, carbon-14, uranium-235 and uranium-239). When a chemical symbol is used, e.g. "C" for carbon, standard notation (now known as "AZE notation" because A is the mass number, Z the atomic number, and E for element) is to indicate the mass number (number of nucleons) with a superscri…
Radioactive, primordial, and stable isotopes
Some isotopes/nuclides are radioactive, and are therefore referred to as radioisotopes or radionuclides, whereas others have never been observed to decay radioactively and are referred to as stable isotopes or stable nuclides. For example, C is a radioactive form of carbon, whereas C and C are stable isotopes. There are about 339 naturally occurring nuclides on Earth, of which 286 are primordial nuclides, meaning that they have existed since the Solar System's formation.
History
The existence of isotopes was first suggested in 1913 by the radiochemist Frederick Soddy, based on studies of radioactive decay chains that indicated about 40 different species referred to as radioelements (i.e. radioactive elements) between uranium and lead, although the periodic table only allowed for 11 elements between lead and uranium inclusive.
Several attempts to separate these new radioelements chemically had failed. For example, Sodd…
Variation in properties between isotopes
A neutral atom has the same number of electrons as protons. Thus different isotopes of a given element all have the same number of electrons and share a similar electronic structure. Because the chemical behavior of an atom is largely determined by its electronic structure, different isotopes exhibit nearly identical chemical behavior.
Occurrence in nature
Elements are composed either of one nuclide (mononuclidic elements), or of more than one naturally occurring isotopes. The unstable (radioactive) isotopes are either primordial or postprimordial. Primordial isotopes were a product of stellar nucleosynthesis or another type of nucleosynthesis such as cosmic ray spallation, and have persisted down to the present because their rate of decay is so slow (e.g. uranium-238 and potassium-40). Post-primordial isotopes wer…
Atomic mass of isotopes
The atomic mass (mr) of an isotope (nuclide) is determined mainly by its mass number (i.e. number of nucleons in its nucleus). Small corrections are due to the binding energy of the nucleus (see mass defect), the slight difference in mass between proton and neutron, and the mass of the electrons associated with the atom, the latter because the electron:nucleon ratio differs among isotopes.