The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom determines an element's atomic number. In other words, each element has a unique number that identifies how many protons are in one atom of that element. For example, all hydrogen atoms, and only hydrogen atoms, contain one proton and have an atomic number of 1. All carbon atoms, and only carbon atoms, contain six protons and have an atomic number of 6. Oxygen atoms contain 8 protons and have an atomic number of 8. The atomic number of an element never changes, meaning that the number of protons in the nucleus of every atom in an element is always the same.
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The Atomic Mass or mass number of an atom is the total number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus. It is typically expressed in atomic mass units (u). The mass number is used to identify different isotopes of an element.
The mass number of an atom is the mass of the protons, neutrons, and electrons of that atom combined. You can estimate the mass of a proton or neutron to be about 1 amu. The mass of an electron is so small and insignificant, it almost doesn't really even matter when it comes to the mass number. So say if an atom has 6 protons(carbon) and 6 neutrons. It has a mass number of 12.
Do not get mass number confused with atomic number. Atomic number is the number of protons in the atom. So the atomic number of a carbon atom would be 6! Pretty easy, right? =D
The definition of a mass number is the total number of number of protons and neutrons found in a nucleus. This is also known as the atomic number or the nucleon number.
atomic mass is the number of protons in an atom
mass number is the number of protons plus neutrons in an atom
83.98 amu is the Atomic Mass, 36 is the atomic number.
No, the atomic mass is not equal to the atomic number. The atomic number represents the number of protons in an atom's nucleus, while the atomic mass is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. The atomic mass can differ from the atomic number, especially due to the presence of neutrons.
atomic number = number of protons = number of electrons atomic mass = mass of protons + mass of neutrons
The atomic mass of carbon is about 12.01 atomic mass units. The atomic number of carbon is 6, indicating the number of protons in its nucleus.
There is no element with an atomic number of 12 and an atomic mass of 8. Atomic number corresponds to the number of protons in an atom, while atomic mass is the sum of protons and neutrons. The atomic number of an element cannot be smaller than its atomic mass.