Question

How many electrons does neon have?

Answer 1

Hint: As we know that protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged. As neon is a neutral atom, so the number of electrons will be equal to the number of protons. If we have to find the number of neutrons, we will subtract the atomic number from the mass number. And we can easily find the electrons, neutrons and protons.

Complete Solution :
- As we know that neon is a neutral atom. It is found that atomic number denotes the total number of protons present in the nucleus of an atom. We know that the atomic number of neon is 10.
- It is found that the number of protons is equal to the atomic number. This clearly means that any atom which is an isotope of neon will basically have 10 protons in the nucleus.
- And the number of electrons is equal to the proton number. Hence, we can say that there will be 10 electrons.
- Now, we will calculate the number of neutrons present. As we know that mass number= number of protons + number of neutrons. Hence, the number of neutrons will be = 20 - 10 = 10.
- Hence, we can conclude that there are 10 electrons in neon.

Note: - We should note that the total number of neutrons present in the nucleus is equal to the difference between the atomic number and the mass number of an atom.
- As we know that the mass number of any atom is basically equal to the addition of the protons and neutrons that are present in the nucleus.