Stability of Isotopes

Atoms need a certain ratio of neutrons to protons to have a stable nucleus. Having too many or too few neutrons relative to protons results in an unstable, or radioactive, nucleus that will sooner or later break down to a more stable form. This process is called radioactive decay. Many isotopes have radioactive nuclei, and these isotopes are referred to as radioisotopes. When they decay, they release particles that may be harmful. This is why radioactive isotopes are dangerous and why working with them requires special suits for protection. The isotope of carbon known as carbon-14 is an example of a radioisotope. In contrast, the carbon isotopes called carbon-12 and carbon-13 are stable.

This whole discussion of isotopes brings us back to Dalton's Atomic Theory. According to Dalton, atoms of a given element are identical. But if atoms of a given element can have different numbers of neutrons, then they can have different masses as well! How did Dalton miss this? It turns out that elements found in nature exist as constant uniform mixtures of their naturally occurring isotopes. In other words, a piece of lithium always contains both types of naturally occurring lithium (the type with 3 neutrons and the type with 4 neutrons). Moreover, it always contains the two in the same relative amounts (or "relative abundances"). In a chunk of lithium, 93% will always be lithium with 4 neutrons, while the remaining 7%

will always be lithium with 3 neutrons.

Dalton always experimented with large chunks of an element - chunks that contained all of the naturally occurring isotopes of that element. As a result, when he performed his measurements, he was actually observing the averaged properties of all the different isotopes in the sample. For most of our purposes in chemistry, we will do the same thing and deal with the average mass of the atoms. Luckily, aside from having different masses, most other properties of different isotopes are similar.

There are two main ways in which scientists frequently show the mass number of an atom they are interested in. It is important to note that the mass number is not given on the periodic table. These two ways include writing a nuclear symbol or by giving the name of the element with the mass number written.

To write a nuclear symbol, the mass number is placed at the upper left (superscript) of the chemical symbol and the atomic number is placed at the lower left (subscript) of the symbol. The complete nuclear symbol for helium-4 is drawn below:

The following nuclear symbols are for a nickel nucleus with 31 neutrons and a uranium nucleus with 146 neutrons.

In the nickel nucleus represented above, the atomic number 28 indicates the nucleus contains 28 protons, and therefore, it must contain 31 neutrons in order to have a mass number of 59. The uranium nucleus has 92 protons as do all uranium nuclei and this particular uranium nucleus has 146 neutrons.

Another way of representing isotopes is by adding a hyphen and the mass number to the chemical name or symbol. Thus the two nuclei would be Nickel-59 or Ni-59 and Uranium-238 or U-238, where 59 and 238 are the mass numbers of the two atoms, respectively. Note that the mass numbers (not the number of neutrons) are given to the side of the name.

Example .2 : POTASSIUM-40

How many protons, electrons, and neutrons are in an atom of ₁₉K⁴⁰ ?

SOLUTION

For all atoms with no charge, the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons.

The mass number, 40 is the sum of the protons and the neutrons.

To find the number of neutrons, subtract the number of protons from the mass number.