Chlorine has an atomic number of 17 - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry - Question 5 - 2014 - Paper 1
Question 5
Chlorine has an atomic number of 17.
Chlorine-35 and chlorine-37 are two isotopes of chlorine.
Complete the table to show the numbers of protons, neutrons and elect... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Chlorine has an atomic number of 17 - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry - Question 5 - 2014 - Paper 1
Step 1
number of protons
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Answer
For both isotopes, chlorine has an atomic number of 17, which means the number of protons is 17 for both chlorine-35 and chlorine-37.
Step 2
number of neutrons
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Answer
To find the number of neutrons, subtract the atomic number from the mass number.
For chlorine-35:
35−17=18
For chlorine-37:
37−17=20
Thus, chlorine-35 has 18 neutrons, and chlorine-37 has 20 neutrons.
Step 3
number of electrons
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Answer
Since chlorine is neutral in both isotopes, the number of electrons equals the number of protons. Therefore, both chlorine-35 and chlorine-37 have 17 electrons.