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March 29, 2024, 03:47:15 pm

Author Topic: Atoms and isotopes  (Read 795 times)  Share 

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#1procrastinator

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Atoms and isotopes
« on: August 16, 2011, 06:11:34 pm »
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Are all atoms isotopes?

With lighter elements, most have equal number of protons and neutrons and those without more or less neutrons are considered isotopes, but when you go to heavier elements, it's not.

So say a hypothetical heavy element is discovered, how would one determine if it were the isotopic form of the the element or not?

mardat

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Re: Atoms and isotopes
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2011, 06:52:51 pm »
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An isotope is simply a variation on the number of neutrons in an atom - for example C-12, C-13, C-14 are all isotopes. You could also have C-15, C-16 etc, although it would be extremely unlikely to find such isotopes

So yes, all atoms are isotopes.

#1procrastinator

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Re: Atoms and isotopes
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2011, 05:38:57 pm »
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^ Thanks