Using hydrogen as an example, explain what isotopes are.?

Question

2. What effect do isotopes have in terms of the properties displayed by hydrogen?

Answer 1

A normal hydrogen atom only has one proton in its nucleus!

Deuterium a hydrogen isotope has one proton and one neutron in its nucleus!

Tritium has one proton and 2 neutrons in its nucleus!

ISOTOPES are atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons!

ISOTONES are atoms with the same number of neutrons but a different number of protons!

Answer 2

An isotope is one of several atomic forms of an element, each containing a different number of neutrons and thus differing in atomic mass.  For your example, hydrogen contains 1 proton inside the nucleus, and of course, 1 electron that orbits the nucleus.

As in the definition, an isotope of hydrogen differs only in the number of neutrons it contains.  Thus, an isotope of hydrogen can contain 1 neutron, 2 neutrons, etc.  There are limits to containing a reasonable amount of extra neutrons, but that is another matter.

Anyway, with hydrogen essentially containing an extra neutron, its atomic mass is altered about 1 amu.  (Neutrons and protons way about 1 atomic mass unit (amu) each while electrons way almost nothing.)  This makes the hydrogen atom considerably heavier.  An addition to atomic mass, neutrons affect the atom's stability and nuclear properties.  With too few or too much neutrons, nuclear properties become more severe, making the atom unstable and exposed to decay.  This is due to the neutrons neutral charge opposed to the protons positive charge; both are located next to each other inside the nucleus.  The separation of protons by neutrons affects the energy between adjacent protons.

Hope this helps!!

Answer 3

Isotopes are mass variants of given elements.  The reason isotopes exist is that while the number of protons is constant for a given element, the number of neutrons in the nucleus can vary.    The most common form of Hydrogen is H-1 which has only a proton as nucleus.  Other forms include, commonly "Deuterium" which has one neutron, and "Tritium" which has two neutrons.  The instability of these isotopes and the ease with which neutrons from them can be dislodged makes them useful in triggering nuclear chain reactions as in an Uranium bomb.