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How to Determine Charge and Mass of Neutral Atoms

Atoms make up everything around you, and they are made up of subatomic particles called electrons, neutrons and protons. Determining the mass and charge of an atom is important to understand the qualities of an atom and how it will behave in certain reactions. All atoms of the same element have the same number of protons, though the number of electrons can change. The atomic mass is the sum of the number of neutrons and protons in the atom.

Things You'll Need

Periodic table of elements

Instructions

- 1
  Find the atom on the table of elements to determine the number of electrons and protons in the atom. For example, if you have to learn about a neutral carbon atom, the atomic number on the table of elements tells you the number of protons and electrons in a neutral carbon atom. In this example, the atomic number is 6, so that means there are six protons and six electrons. If you have an atomic diagram that depicts the subatomic particles, you must count them and identify the atom by locating the element that has the same number of protons on the table of elements.
- 2
  Compare the number of electrons to protons to determine the charge of the atom. If you already know your atom is neutrally charged, then you can skip this step. If you counted an atom diagram, compare the negatively charged electron total to the positively charged proton total. If there are more electrons, the atom has a negative charge and if there are more protons, it has a positive charge.
- 3
  Read the atomic mass or atomic weight from the Table of Elements to determine the atom's mass. For example, with a neutral carbon atom the atomic mass is 12.0107. This number is a component of the Table of Elements because it conveys the number of neutrons in the atom.

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