Is all elements isotops and if not how do you know if they are

Question

Is all elements isotops and if not how do you know if they are

Answer 1

Every element has at least one isotope (think about it). you can find a list of isotopes at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_nu...

Answer 2

No, there are a number of elements that exist in only one form e.g. fluorine (fluorine-19), sodium (sodium-23), aluminium (aluminium-27)...

On the other hand some elements exist in lots of isotopic forms (e.g. tin exists in 10 different isotopic forms)

I'm afraid there is no way of predicting which it will be.  Though, generally, the heavier elements tend to exist in more isotopic forms than the lighter elements.

Answer 3

Put simply, elements are made up of atoms which in turn are made of proton and neutron in the nucleus and orbital electrons. The number of protons an element has is fixed for the element. But the number of neutrons can vary and all elements that have the same number of protons are isotopes of the element.  They have the same number of protons (atomic number) but different number of neutrons (atomic mass). E.g. 8O16, 8O17, 8O18 are 3 isotopes of oxygen. The word isotope is interchangeable with the word nuclide.

Answer 4

No, Not all isotopes are isotopes. Only the radioactive ones are. This is because they give off neutrons. So if an element doesn't have the same number of neutrons as it usually does, it's an isotope.

  

   the number of neutrons in an element would usually be explained along the lines of this . e.g uranium (239) . That means uranium with the normal amount of protons and electrons but 239 neutrons or isotope of uranium 239.

  you may also want to know what an allotrope is. This is an element with varying chemical structure. for example graphite and daimond all come from carbon but they have the same material, "carbon." they appear different because they have different molecular layouts.

Answer 5

an isotope of a given element, let's say carbon, is one which has the same atomic number of carbon in its ground state but which has a higher mass number of carbon in its ground state. basically an isotope is an atom of an element that has a larger number of neutrons in its nucleus than the most common states of that element on earth. carbon 14 is an isotope of the more common carbon 12, because carbon 14 has two extra neutrons which also cause it to give off beta radiation.

in reality, what constitutes as an isotope is really an Earth bias, what humans call isotopes are in some cases more common than the so-called ''normal'' elemental state. take hydrogen for example, on earth it has one proton and one electron but in the cores of stars(which make up most matter in the universe) they are in plasma form as the isotope deuterium which has a proton and a neutron with an electron stripped off. this so called isotope is really more common than our interpretation of hydrogen. so an isotope can be also thought as an uncommon state of an element on Earth.