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Course: High school chemistry > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Isotopes and ionsWorked example: using the mass number equation
The sum of the number of neutrons and protons in an atom is called its mass number. If we know the mass number of an atom, we can determine the number of neutrons in its nucleus. Created by Khan Academy.
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How many known elements are there? Are there any left unknown?(5 votes)
There are currently 118 known elements. 94 of these are naturally occurring, and the others are man-made. Generally, the larger atoms are, the more unstable they become. For example, the element 118, Oganesson, lasts for just 0.9 milliseconds, before it decays! Any elements beyond the periodic table would most likely be too unstable to be used for anything.(13 votes)
What would the mass number be used for?(2 votes)
An atom's mass number (symbol: "A") is used to determine the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. I.e.,
Protons + neutrons = mass number
With an atom's mass number, you can figure out the number of neutrons in the nucleus. The mass number is useful when studying isotopes (atoms of the same element but with different numbers of neutrons). The mass number allows scientists to identify and compare different isotopes of an element based on their nuclear composition. For example, we can compare Carbon isotopes: carbon-12 (C-12), carbon-13 (C-13), and carbon-14 (C-14). These isotopes have mass numbers of 12, 13, and 14, respectively.
Studying isotopes and their nuclear composition is valuable because we can gain insights into various aspects of an element's behavior. For instance, different isotopes of an element might have different stability, radioactivity, or chemical properties. This type of information is vital in many fields, not only in chemistry, but also in physics, geology, archaeology, and environmental science. That's because you can gather a lot of data from techniques like mass spectrometry (which measures the relative abundance of isotopes in a sample, to determine their ratios). We can learn a lot about the origin, age, and processes involved in various natural systems.
This all starts with isotopes. And it's the atom's mass number that allows us to tell what isotope we're dealing with. So, that's what it's for.(5 votes)
Why did we not incorporate the decimal value in the calculation? Thanks, and these lessons are great!(3 votes)
is atomic mass and mass number the same ?(1 vote)- No, Mass number is the number of protons and neutrons in an atom. However, atomic mass is the average mass of an element's isotopes.(3 votes)
I’ve been trying to figure out how to write superscript and subscript(which if you don’t know, superscript is small text that goes slightly above the main character, and subscript is the same but goes slightly under)in the same line, but I just can’t do it. Can anyone help me? The best I can do is ₃⁶ C or something like that.(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Hi, everyone. In this video we're going to practice using the mass number equation. This equation represents the fact that the mass number of an atom is equal to its number of protons
plus its number of neutrons. Let's use the mass number equation to answer the following question. How many neutrons are
in an isotope of sodium with the following notation? To answer this question, we'll first need to rearrange our mass
number equation to solve for the number of neutrons. Pause the video and take a
moment to try this for yourself. The rearranged equation is as follows. The number of neutrons
equals the mass number minus the number of protons. Based on this notation, we know that this sodium isotope has a mass number of 23 and an atomic number of 11. If we subtract the atomic number 11 from the mass number
23, we're left with 12, which is the number of neutrons
in this sodium isotope. Okay, more practice, this time
with an isotope of platinum. How many neutrons does this isotope have based on the following notation, Pt-195? Again, we'll need to use the
rearranged mass number equation to solve for the number of neutrons. This particular notation
provides the chemical symbol of platinum and its mass number. We can look up platinum
on the periodic table to find its atomic number, which is 78, meaning that every platinum
atom has 78 protons. We can subtract the atomic number 78 from the mass number 195 to get 117, so this isotope of
platinum has 117 neutrons.