Unstable isotopes are the ones which undergo radioactive decay and in the process, change into other elements. Isotopes can be either stable or unstable. This slight difference is more pronounced in hydrogen than in heavier elements. For example, the boiling point of water with deuterium (100.7☌) is slightly higher than the boiling point of water with just protonium (100☌). There are some very slight chemical differences as a result of these differences. Note that all three of these forms of hydrogen have only one proton that's what makes it hydrogen. The radioactive form of hydrogen which is found in nature has one proton and two neutrons and is called tritium.

The next most common form, with one proton and one neutron, is called deuterium. The most common of these isotopes has a proton and no neutrons and is called protonium. There are three isotopes of hydrogen found in nature. As an example, hydrogen has only one proton. This makes chemically separating isotopes very difficult. Instead, different isotopes have different mass and have different tendencies to radioactively decay, or change over time.ĭifferent isotopes have very similar chemical properties because chemistry is determined by the electric charge. Having different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus will not affect the charge of the atom. Atoms of the same element all have the same number of protons, by definition, because elements are defined by how many protons they have. Each proton has a charge of +1, each electron a charge of -1, the neutrons have no charge (neutral charge-neutron).

Atoms have protons and neutrons in a dense nucleus at the centre, and electrons in orbitals around the nucleus. Īll matter is made up of atoms in various arrangements. Changing the number of neutrons in an atom changes that atom's atomic mass. Isotopes of an element are atoms with the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons. In other words, the proton number determines the element. The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom establishes how the atom will react chemically. Nuclei of carbon's three most common isotopes.

Normal charge of carbon