Question
Question: How many nucleons are there in the \[Sulphur - 32\] isotope ?...
How many nucleons are there in the Sulphur−32 isotope ?
Solution
Nucleons are the particles set up in the nucleus of an atom. This includes together the protons and the neutrons. The protons are the positively charged particles in the nucleus although the neutrons have neutral charges.
Complete step by step answer:
Sulphur has 16 protons and 16 neutrons.
Sulphur has atomic number 16 which means that it has 16 protons. Sulphur−32 has 32 nucleons - 16 protons and 16 neutrons.
All matter, counting mineral crystals, is through up of atoms, and all atoms are made up of three foremost particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. protons are positively charged, neutrons are not charged and electrons are negatively charged. The negative charge of 1 electrons balances the positive charge of one proton. Equally protons and neutrons have a mass of 1, although electrons have virtually no mass.
Charges and masses of the particles within atoms
Elementary Particle | Charge | Mass |
---|---|---|
Proton | +1 | 1 |
Neutron | 0 | 1 |
Electron | −1 | 0 |
The element hydrogen has modest atoms, each per just one proton and one electron. The proton practices the nucleus, while the electron orbits about it. All other elements have neutrons along with protons in their nucleus, for example helium. The positively charged protons incline to repel each other, and the neutrons help to grip the nucleus together. The number of protons is the atomic number, and the number of protons and more neutrons is the atomic mass. For hydrogen, the atomic mass is 1, because there is one proton and no neutrons. For helium, it is 4: two protons and two neutrons.
For most of the 16 brightest elements (up to oxygen) the number of neutrons is equivalent to the number of protons. For most of the left over elements, there are more neutrons than protons, because extra neutrons are required to keep the nucleus together by overpowering the mutual repulsion of the increasing numbers of protons concerted in a very small space.
Note:
Sulphur (16S) has 23 identified isotopes with mass numbers reaching from 27 to 49, four of which are stable: 32S (95.02%),33S (0.75%),34S (4.21%), and36S (0.02%).
Other than 35S, the radioactive isotopes of sulfur are all reasonably short-lived. 35S is molded from cosmic ray spallation of 40Ar in the atmosphere. It has a half life of 87 days. The next extended-lived radioisotope is sulfur−38, with a half-life of 170 minutes. The straight-lived is 49S, with a half-life shorter than 200 nanoseconds.