A nuclide contains 30 positively-charged particles, and 40 neutrally-charged massive particles. What is the nuclide?

1 Answer
anor277
Sep 6, 2016

Given a neutral atom we have ""^70Zn.

Explanation:

If it is a neutral atom (and we must assume so), for every electron there must be a positively charged nuclear proton. Thus Z," the atomic number = 30". And thus the element is zinc metal, Zn, because this is how zinc is identified.

The mass number is simply the sum of nuclear protons and neutrons: 30+40=70. Now this is a fairly rare isotope of Zn, maybe less that 1% abundance. The most probable zinc isotope is ""^64Zn. How many (i) electrons, and (ii) neutrons, does this isotope have?

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