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Neutrons do not affect the electron configuration. Atoms of a chemical element that differ only in neutron number are called isotopes. For example, carbon, with atomic number 6, has an abundant isotope carbon-12 with 6 neutrons and a rare isotope carbon-13 with 7 neutrons.
Protons define the entire charge of a nucleus, and hence its chemical identity. Neutrons are electrically neutral, but contribute to the mass of a nucleus to nearly the same extent as the protons. Neutrons can explain the phenomenon of isotopes (same atomic number with different atomic mass). The main role of neutrons is to reduce electrostatic ...
[8]: 25 Nevertheless, Rutherford had conjectured the existence of the deuteron, a +1 charge particle of mass 2, and the neutron, a neutral particle of mass 1. [32]: 396 The former is the nucleus of deuterium, discovered in 1931 by Harold Urey. [34] The mass of the hypothetical neutral particle would be little different from that of the proton.
An example of use of a mass number is "carbon-12," which has 12 nucleons (six protons and six neutrons). The actual mass of an atom at rest is often expressed in daltons (Da), also called the unified atomic mass unit (u). This unit is defined as a twelfth of the mass of a free neutral atom of carbon-12, which is approximately 1.66 × 10 −27 ...
A nuclide is a species of an atom with a specific number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, for example, carbon-13 with 6 protons and 7 neutrons. The nuclide concept (referring to individual nuclear species) emphasizes nuclear properties over chemical properties, whereas the isotope concept (grouping all atoms of each element) emphasizes chemical over nuclear.
The negatively charged electron has a mass of about 1 / 1836 of that of a hydrogen atom. The remainder of the hydrogen atom's mass comes from the positively charged proton. The atomic number of an element is the number of protons in its nucleus. Neutrons are neutral particles having a mass slightly greater than that of the proton.
However, some even neutron numbers also have only one stable nuclide; these numbers are 0 (1 H), 2 (4 He), 4 (7 Li), 84 (142 Ce), 86 (146 Nd) and 126 (208 Pb), the case of 84 is special, since 142 Ce is theoretically unstable to double beta decay, and the nuclides with 84 neutrons which are theoretically stable to both beta decay and double ...
Carbon-12 is of particular importance in its use as the standard from which atomic masses of all nuclides are measured, thus, its atomic mass is exactly 12 daltons by definition. Carbon-12 is composed of 6 protons , 6 neutrons , and 6 electrons .