Question

A mystery atom has 17 protons, 17 electrons, and 18 neutrons. Which element is it?

What is the mass of an atom with seven protons, seven neutrons, and eight electrons?

Answer 1

Because there exist nuclei with with 7 protons and MORE OR LESS than 7 neutrons; that is nitrogen possesses a number of ISOTOPES.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a nucleus possesses 7 protons, 7 fundamental positive particles, it is by definition a nitrogen atom. The most abundant isotope (as they are called) is

14

N

, however, there exist isotopes where the nitrogen nucleus contains more than 7 neutrons. If there are 8 neutrons, fundamental neutral particles, we have the isotope

15

N

. This isotope is still nitrogen (why? because it has 7 protons) but it masses more than the regular isotope.) and its chemistry is still the same. The atomic mass of nitrogen is thus the weighted average of the individual isotope.