41. A neutron atom of potassium has an atomic number of 19 and an atomic mass number of 39. Find its number of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
This is what I got-
Protons: 19
Neutrons: 20
Electrons: ?
Thanks
-MC
I assume you means a "neutral" and not neutron atom .....
Your are right. Protons 19, neutrons 20. If the atom is neutral, and protons are +1 charged and electrons -1 charged, would electrons be the same as protons. That is ALWAYS true for neutral atoms.
To find the number of electrons in a neutral atom, you can use the atomic number since the number of electrons in an atom is equal to its atomic number.
In this case, the atomic number of the potassium atom is 19, so it will have 19 electrons.
To determine the number of protons and neutrons, you can use the atomic mass number. The atomic mass number represents the total number of protons and neutrons in the atom.
The atomic mass number of the potassium atom is 39. Since the atomic number is 19, which corresponds to the number of protons, we can subtract the atomic number from the atomic mass number to find the number of neutrons.
Number of protons = 19
Number of neutrons = Atomic mass number - Atomic number = 39 - 19 = 20
Number of electrons = 19
Therefore, a neutron atom of potassium with an atomic number of 19 and an atomic mass number of 39 will have 19 protons, 20 neutrons, and 19 electrons.