Question #181f6

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 23, 2018

The #"protium isotope"# indeed has a mass number of #1...#

Explanation:

To a good approximation, the mass of an atom, any atom, is the number of nuclear particles, i.e. protons and neutrons. The most common hydrogen is #""^1H#, the #"protium isotope"#, the which has a 99.98% abundance....and which only contains a sinlge proton in its nuclear core. The #"deuterium isotope,"# #""^2H#, has an isotopic abundance of 0.02%...and there are also traces of #""^3H#, the #"tritium isotope"#. Deuterium and tritium have ONE and TWO neutrons, massive particles of neutral charge, present in their respective nuclear cores.

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