Hello and welcome back to NinetyEast. In this video we're going to be looking at a couple of isotope examples to check our understanding.
But before we get started, just a quick reminder about what isotopes are.
Isotopes are any two or more atoms (could be multiple) that have the same proton number as each other;
but they have a different neutron number.
In other terms we could say they have the same atomic number (because that is the number of protons within the atom's nucleus)
but they have a different mass number.
Looking at the periodic table down below, just a quick reminder that chemical elements are the large letters in the middle,
atomic number's at the top, and mass number's at the bottom.
Ok, let's get to the examples.
Looking at these five atoms here, work out which is an isotope of carbon and which is an isotope of nitrogen.
Okay are you ready?
We need to look at the atomic number to determine if it's an isotope of carbon or nitrogen.
The atomic number of this one is 6, so it must be an isotope of carbon (atomic number 6).
This one has an atomic number of 7, so it must be an isotope of nitrogen;
back to six again, so an isotope of carbon.
Another one with an atomic number of 6...
and last but not least, another atom with an atomic number of 7, so it's an isotope of nitrogen.
That's quite a lot of isotopes, but there are many more.
Carbon has got isotopes that range from a mass number of 8 to 22.
And nitrogen's got isotopes with a mass number that ranges from 10 to 25.
In reality you won't see all of these isotopes in nature, and that's because some are man-made.
We'll talk about why synthetic ones are not found in nature in our next video, but for now
let's move on to another example.
Now have a look at these six atoms here and have a think about which ones will be isotopes of hydrogen.
Ok, let's get started. First we need to locate hydrogen in the periodic table.
It's here on the top left hand side and it has an atomic number of 1.
Now let's look at these atoms here and work out
which ones will be an isotope of that hydrogen atom.
This one has got an atomic number of 1, so it is an isotope.
How about this one?
It's got an atomic number of 2, which means
nope, it's not an isotope of hydrogen. It IS an isotope of helium because it has an atomic number of 2.
Have a look at this one now...
Yes, it definitely is because it has an atomic number of 1.
As do these three here. They all have an atomic number of 1, so they're all isotopes of hydrogen.
Once more, you'll only find these three in nature.
We'll talk about why in more detail in our next video. For now you just need to remember
isotopes are any two atoms that share the same number of protons...
and that every element has at least one isotope (some of them are found in nature and others will be synthetic or man-made).
There are more exercises / examples in the document in the description box.
Work through them and if you have any questions send us a direct message (YouTube), or email us at NinetyEastTV@gmail.com.
Hope you've enjoyed this video!