Question

An atom of lithium has 3 protons. how many electrons must be circling the atom if it has a net charge of 0?

Answer 1

Answer;

-3 electrons

Explanation;

-Lithium always has 3 protons: its atomic number is 3, and this is decided by its amount of protons (or by its nucleus' charge if you want to get more technical). Therefore, a lithium atom with neutral charge will have 3 electrons, too.

-Lithium has atomic number of 3. So a neutral lithium atom has 3 protons and 3 electrons. Two electrons in shell 1 and one electron in shell 2.

Answer 2

total number of electrons required = 3

Step-by-step explanation:

Lithium atom has 3 protons inside its nucleus

so the net positive charge on atom is due to these 3 protons

so in order to make it neutral we need same amount of negative charge on it so that net charge becomes zero on an atom of lithium

So we need 3 electrons on atom of nucleus as we know that

charge of proton = +e

charge of electron = -e

so we will have

`Q_(proton) = +3e{/tex]</p><p>[tex]Q_(electron) = -3e`

`Q_(net) = Q_(proton) + Q_(electron)`