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What Do Neutrons Change?

The atoms which comprise all of the elements in the universe consist of only three types of particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Infinitesimally small electrons orbit the atom's nucleus in a cloud; the nucleus itself consists of the other two particle types. Protons have a positive charge and electrons are negative. Neutrons have no charge, but their mass -- roughly equal to the mass of the protons -- still affects an atom's properties.
  1. The Atomic Number Remains Unchanged

    • An element's atomic number, the number of protons it contains in its nucleus, is its fundamental identity. It can lose or gain electrons and become an ion, but it remains the same element. If it were to lose or gain neutrons, it would become an isotope of that element. But if it were to lose or gain a proton, it would become a different element altogether. The periodic table of elements lists elements in ascending order of atomic number. Understanding what this number means is important to the related concept of atomic mass.

    Atomic Mass

    • If an element's atomic number is its fundamental identity, atomic mass is its personality. Atomic mass, sometimes called atomic mass number or mass number, is a function of the number of protons and neutrons in the atom's nucleus. Electrons are so tiny that they have negligible weight, but the other two relatively massive particles found in the nucleus affect atomic mass significantly. A change in the number of neutrons in the nucleus creates atoms of different mass -- and therefore different behaviors -- even though the atomic number remains the same.

    Isotopes

    • Atoms with the same atomic number, but differing atomic masses are isotopes of that element. A hydrogen atom typically consists of a single proton and neutron in its nucleus; a single electron orbits this center. Most hydrogen atoms take this form. However, some of them have two neutrons within their nuclei; these are deuterium isotopes, and they weigh more than standard hydrogen atoms. A third isotope, tritium, contains three neutrons and is radioactive.

    Radioactivity

    • While lighter elements typically have a balance of protons and neutrons in their most common and stable forms, heavier elements toward the base of the periodic table of elements may have imbalanced numbers of protons and neutrons. These elements are also more likely to be unstable, and therefore radioactive. Uranium has a fixed number of protons, 92 of them, but it has more than two dozen isotopes of differing atomic masses, none of which are stable.


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