Question

A carbon-12 atom has 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons. How many protons does a carbon-14 atom have?

Answer 1

Hint: Before solving this question, it is important to know the basic terms such as atomic number, mass number, neutrons, protons, electrons etc. There are two stable isotopes of carbon and there are three stable isotopes of oxygen

Complete step by step answer:
Let’s understand the basic terminology:
- Electrons, protons and neutrons are the subatomic particles. Electrons are the subatomic particle which carries a negative charge, while protons are the subatomic particle with a positive charge and neutrons are the subatomic particle which has no charge. Protons and neutrons both are present in the nucleus of the atom whereas electrons revolve around the nucleus.
- Atomic number is the number of protons present in the nucleus of every atom of that element.
Mass number is the sum of protons and neutrons present in the nucleus of the atom. Protons and neutrons are collectively known as nucleons.
Given in the question:
Number of protons in $C^{12}$ = 6
Number of electrons in $C^{12}$ = 6
Number of neutrons in $C^{12}$ = 6
$C^{12}$means that the mass number is = 12
And number of protons is always equal to the atomic number and we know that, the atomic number of carbon = 6
Hence, the number of protons in a carbon- 14 atom will be equal to 6.

Note: The stable isotopes of carbon is $C^{12}\text{ and }{\text{C}}^{13}$. There is one more isotope of carbon but it is radioactive i.e.$C^{14}$. Radioactivity means emission of ionizing radiations or particles.