Question

How do different isotopes of the same element compare?

Answer 1

For comparing the different isotopes of the same element one should first know what are isotopes and for specific chemical elements how many isotopes are these. The atomic number is equal to the number of protons.

Complete step by step answer:
Atoms present in the same element have different numbers of neutrons present in the nucleus. For example helium atoms can contain one or two neutrons but the number protons are two. These different types of helium atoms differ with each other in their masses. These different atoms are known as isotopes. The isotopes are defined as the atoms of the same element which have similar atomic numbers but different mass numbers.
The mass number of the atom is calculated by adding the number of protons and the number of neutrons.
The isotopes of the same element are similar by their number of protons and differ from the number of neutrons. So comparison can be made between the different isotopes of the same element as they will have different mass numbers and varies in the number of neutrons.
Isotopes of the chemical element are represented by the symbol of the element, atomic number is written in the subscript and the mass number is written in the superscript.
Example: Helium atoms have two isotopes ${}_2^3He$ and ${}_2^4He$. Here the atomic mass is 2 and the mass number is 3 and 4.
The number of neutrons for the 1st isotope is 1 and the number of neutrons for the 2nd isotope is 2.

Note:
The number of neutrons of each isotope of the chemical element is calculated by subtracting the mass number with the number of protons. The isotopes play an important role in calculating the average atomic mass of the chemical element.