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Isotopes are the atoms of the same element which contain an equal number of ______.

Answer
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Hint: we all know that atoms , particles, elements are the combination of proton, electron, neutron. Depending on the number of protons , neutrons and electrons i.e. atomic mass and atomic number, we differentiate some properties of elements like isotope and isomer.


Complete step-by-step solution:
Isotopes can be characterized as the variation of compound components that have a similar number of protons and electrons , however an alternate number of neutrons. Lets understand this concept with an example , Hydrogen has three numbers of isotopes, i.e. protium \[\left( H_{1}^{1} \right)\], deuterium \[\left( H_{1}^{2} \right)\], tritium \[\left( H_{1}^{3} \right)\], they have different number of atomic mass but equal number of atomic number. The atomic number is \[1\] for these three types of hydrogen atoms but number of neutron in \[\left( H_{1}^{1} \right)\] is 1 , in \[\left( H_{1}^{2} \right)\] is 2 , in \[\left( H_{1}^{3} \right)\]Is 3 . Now we can say that isotopes have equal numbers of atomic numbers but different numbers of atomic mass.
Therefore , the answer is : Isotopes are the atoms of the same element which contain an equal number of -atomic number.

Note: There are various types of application of isotopes in the medical field, Cobalt- \[60\] is used in the treatment of cancer , Iodine - \[131\] used in treatment of hyperthyroidism etc. Some isotopes like tritium are applied to the making of nuclear weapons , self powered lighting etc.