If two protons and two neutrons are removed from the nucleus of an oxygen-16 atom, a nucleus of which element remains? It was simple to say that oxygen-16 remains but is there a formula for this.

Thank you

I'm missing something or you are. Arithmetic is what you use BUT the answer is not O-16 remains.

O has 8 protons + 8 neutrons. That is O16.
If you take two protons away, that leave 8-2=6 protons which is carbon or C. Taking two neutrons away gives 8-2=6. The six protons + six neutrons = 12 nucleons and the answer 6-C-12 remains. If I could write subscripts and superscript correctly for this the 6 is a subscript in the lower left before C and the 12 is a superscript in the upper left before C.

Yes, there is a formula to determine the element that remains after removing certain particles from a nucleus. This formula is known as the Nuclide Notation. It is composed of the element's symbol, atomic number, and mass number.

In the case of an oxygen-16 atom, the symbol for oxygen is "O," the atomic number is 8 (which represents the number of protons), and the mass number is 16 (which represents the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus).

To find the remaining element, you need to subtract two protons and two neutrons from the original oxygen-16 nucleus. Since protons determine the atomic number, removing two protons changes the element. It reduces the atomic number from 8 to 6, which corresponds to the element carbon (C).

So, after removing two protons and two neutrons, the remaining nucleus is that of carbon-12.

Yes, there is a formula for determining the element that remains after the removal of protons and neutrons from a nucleus.

The element is identified by the atomic number, which is determined by the number of protons in the nucleus. In this case, we start with an oxygen-16 atom, which means it has 8 protons.

If two protons are removed, the new atomic number would be 8 - 2 = 6.

To find the element with atomic number 6, we can refer to the periodic table. Atomic number 6 corresponds to the element carbon (C).

Therefore, the nucleus that remains after removing two protons and two neutrons from an oxygen-16 atom is a carbon-12 nucleus.