How many electrons, protons, and neutrons does nitrogen-14 have? Is it an anion or cation?
I know nitrogen-14 has 7 protons, but I do not know how many neutrons or electrons. Cations are positively charged ions while anions are negatively charged.
I know nitrogen-14 has 7 protons, but I do not know how many neutrons or electrons. Cations are positively charged ions while anions are negatively charged.
1 Answer
Explanation:
Nitrogen-14 is actually an isotope of nitrogen, so right from the start, you can say that it is a neutral atom.
Isotopes are atoms that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus. You know that nitrogen-14 has
Because nitrogen-14 is a neutral atom, the number of protons it has in its nucleus must be equal to the number of electrons that surround its nucleus.
#"neutral atom " implies " no. of protons = no. of electrons"#
Now, in order to find the number of neutrons present in the nucleus of a nitrogen-14 atom, you must use its mass number. The mass number of an isotope is added to the name of the isotope.
In this case, you have
#"nitrogen-"color(blue)(14) implies "mass number" = color(blue)(14)#
The mass number of an atom tells you the number of protons and neutrons located in the nucleus.
So you can say that
#"no. of protons + no. of neutrons" = color(blue)(14)#
This implies that a nitrogen-14 atom contains
#(color(blue)(14)color(white)(.)"protons + neutrons") - "7 protons" = "7 neutrons"#
Now, a nitrogen atom, regardless of its mass number, will always form