are protons the same as the atomic number
For example, an oxygen atom has 8 protons. If you were somehow able to change the proton number of this atom to 7, even if everything else remained the same, it would no longer be an oxygen atom, it would be nitrogen. For this reason, we list the different elements by their proton, or atomic, number. All carbon atoms, and only carbon atoms, contain six protons and have an atomic number of 6. Oxygen atoms contain 8 protons and have an atomic number of 8. The atomic number of an element never changes, meaning that the number of protons in the nucleus of every atom in an element is always the same. The number of protons in the nucleus of the atom is equal to the atomic number (Z). The number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of protons. The mass number of the atom (M) is equal to the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. The number of neutrons is equal to the difference between the mass number of the atom (M) and the atomic number (Z). Each element is defined by the number of protons found in each of its atoms. No matter how many electrons or neutrons an atom has, the element is defined by its number of protons. The periodic table is arranged in order of increasing atomic number, so the number of protons is the element number. For hydrogen, the number of protons is 1. For zinc, the number of protons is 30. Atoms of each element contain a characteristic number of protons. In fact, the number of protons determines what atom we are looking at (e.g., all atoms with six protons are carbon atoms); the number of protons in an atom is called the atomic number. In contrast, the number of neutrons for a given element can vary. Atomic mass is also known as atomic weight. Atomic mass is the weighted average mass of an atom of an element based on the relative natural abundance of that element's isotopes. Mass number is a count of the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus. Hydrogen has three natural isotopes: 1H, 2H, and 3H. Together, the number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an element’s mass number: mass number = protons + neutrons. If you want to calculate how many neutrons an atom has, you can simply subtract the number of protons, or atomic number, from the mass number. The number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom can be determined from a set of simple rules. 1  The number of protons in the nucleus of the atom is equal to the atomic number (Z). 2  The number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of protons. Thus, atoms of the same element will always have the same _____________ but will not necessarily have the same _____________. Thus, atoms of the same element will always have the same ATOMIC NUMBER but will not necessarily have the same MASS NUMBER. The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom determines an element's atomic number. In other words, each element has a unique number that identifies how many protons are in one atom of that element. For example, all hydrogen atoms, and only hydrogen atoms, contain one proton and have an atomic number of 1.
Yes, the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom is equal to the atomic number (Z).