Question

How many neutrons are present in the tritium nucleus?
A. $0$
B. $1$
C. $2$
D. $3$

Answer 1

Hint: Tritium is also known as hydrogen $-3$ which is very rare on the earth. it is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen having mass number three and atomic number one. It may be harmful to human health as it emits ionizing radiations. The radiation exposure may develop a cancer during his lifetime.

Complete step by step answer:
Atomic nucleus is present in the center of the atom and it consists of protons and neutrons. The nucleus is positively charged which is surrounded by electrons that are negatively charged. The electrons and neutrons are held together by electrostatic force of attraction.
Tritium is very rare and the atmosphere contains only trace amounts due to interaction of the gases with cosmic rays. It has many applications such as it can be used as a radioactive tracer. There are some countries that use tritium as fuel for thermonuclear weapons.
As we have discussed, the mass number of tritium is three and atomic number is one, where mass number is defined as the sum of protons and neutrons and atomic number is the number of protons present.
Here, number of protons is $1$
Hence, tritium ${{(}_{1}}{{H}^{3}})\Rightarrow A=p+n$ , where $A$ is the mass number, \[p\] is the number of protons and \[n\] is the number of neutrons.
On substituting the values, we get,
$3=1+n$
$\Rightarrow n=2$

So, the correct answer is Option C.

Note: Neutron is defined as the subatomic particle that does not contain any electrostatic charge and has a very similar mass to that of proton. Proton is defined as the subatomic particle that contains a positive electrostatic charge and has a mass slightly less than that of neutron.