Question

How are isotopes named?

Answer 1

Atom is consist of nucleus and nucleus is consist of proton and neutron whereas protons are positively charged species and neutron carries no charge i.e. neutral in nature and electrons are revolving around the nucleus and these electrons are generally negatively charged species.

Complete step by step answer:
- Atoms of same element have same number of protons but different number of neutrons these type of atoms which have different number of neutrons are known as isotopes of that element.
- Another definition of isotopes is they have the same atomic number but different mass number where atomic number can be represented as the number of protons present in any element it is also known by the name proton number and it is generally represented by the letter Z. Mass number can be defined as the total number of neutrons and protons present in the nucleus where protons and neutrons together are known as nucleons and this is represented by the symbol A as this mass number is also known by the name atomic mass number.
- An isotope is named after the element and mass number of its atom. Let us understand by the example of carbon, carbon-12 is defined as an isotope of carbon atom where carbon is the element and 12 is its mass number or we can say that the number of protons present in carbon is 12.
Thus we can say that isotope is named after the element and its mass number of atom.

Note: Chemical properties of most isotopes remain same in the same kind of elements, as chemical properties of an element depend upon the number of electrons which remain same in mostly isotopes so they also have the same chemical properties.