Question

How many neutrons are found in the nucleus of one atom of chlorine-37?

Answer 1

`20`

Explanation:

the `-37` after the name chlorine shows the number of nucleons - the protons and neutrons found in the nucleus.

the proton number shows the number of protons in the atom. this is found at the bottom-left of the element symbol in the Periodic Table. for chlorine, this is `17`.

therefore, the number of neutrons in an atom of chlorine can be found by subtracting the proton number of chlorine from the mass number of chlorine.

`37 - 17 = 20`

there are `20` neutrons, `17` protons and therefore `37` nucleons in one atom of chlorine`-37`.