An iron isotope has an atomic mass of 55. how many neutrons does this iron isotope have?
Chemistry · High School · Thu Feb 04 2021
Answered on
To find the number of neutrons in an atom, you can subtract the atomic number from the atomic mass. The atomic mass represents the total mass of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom, while the atomic number represents the number of protons.
For iron, the atomic number is typically 26. However, you've mentioned an atomic mass of 55. This is not a common value for the atomic mass of a stable iron isotope. The two most abundant isotopes of iron are iron-56 and iron-54.
If we assume you are referring to iron - 54 (since iron-56 has an atomic mass of 56), you can calculate the number of neutrons as follows:
Number of neutrons = Atomic mass - Atomic number
Number of neutrons= 54 − 26 = 28
So, for iron-54, there are 28 neutrons.