Question

1. neon has two isotopes: neon - 10 and neon - 12.

a. which isotope has the greater mass?
b. which has more neutrons?
c. which has more protons?
d. which has more electrons?

Explanation:

• a. Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different mass numbers. The mass number is written after the element name. Since \(12>10\), neon - 12 has a greater mass.
• b. The number of neutrons \(N\) is calculated by the formula \(N=\text{Mass number}(A)-\text{Atomic number}(Z)\). For neon, the atomic number \(Z = 10\). For neon - 10: \(N_1=10 - 10=0\). For neon - 12: \(N_2=12 - 10 = 2\). So neon - 12 has more neutrons.
• c. Isotopes of the same element have the same atomic number. The atomic number is equal to the number of protons. Since both are neon isotopes, they have the same number of protons (\(Z = 10\)).
• d. In a neutral atom, the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons. Since both are neutral neon isotopes and have the same number of protons (\(Z = 10\)), they have the same number of electrons.

Answer:

a. Neon - 12.
b. Neon - 12.
c. Neither, they have the same number of protons.
d. Neither, they have the same number of electrons.