Question

An electrically neutral atom of oxygen has eight electrons. What other facts do you know for sure about this atom?

There are eight neutrons in the nucleus.

There are eight protons.

There is a charge of +8 on an atom of beryllium.

There is a charge of 8 on an atom of beryllium.

Answer 1

That there are eight protons. An element, when undisturbed, has the same amount of electrons as it does protons. The two things about beryllium cannot be true because you don't have the information. The neutron number is probably 8, but that can change based on what isotope of oxygen you have. The most probable answer is protons.

Answer 2

Answer: There are eight protons.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mass number is the sum of total number of protons and neutrons present in the nucleus of an atom.

On the other hand, atomic number is only the total number of protons present in an atom.

Also, when an atom is electrically neutral in nature then its number of protons equal to the number of electrons present in it.

An electrically neutral atom of oxygen has 8 electrons and 8 protons. It can have any number of neutrons depending on the isotope of oxygen.

Thus, we can conclude that an electrically neutral atom of oxygen that has eight electrons will also have 8 protons.