How can there be more than 1000 different atoms when there are only about 100 different elements?

Elements are defined by the number of protons in the nucleus, and aren't considered to be different when you change the number of neutrons on the nucleus. The opposite is true for atoms. All elements and their isotopes, elements with different numbers of neutrons, are considered different types of atoms.

Answered by Burklow2016 | 2024-06-10

There are about 118 different elements, each defined by the number of protons in their nuclei. Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons, forming isotopes, which increases the total number of distinct atoms to over 1,000. This variation allows many types of atoms to exist due to the isotopic differences among the elements.
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Answered by Burklow2016 | 2024-10-09