1.6 Isotopes, the Atomic Fraternal Twin

As was stated in the video, not all atoms are created equal. Believe it or not, there are many different types of the same atom. If you recall earlier discussions, we stated that each element is dictated by its number of protons. There are, however, instances where an atom can have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Such atoms are called isotopes. For purposes of discussion, let’s look at a Uranium atom. Some occurrences of Uranium have 143 neutrons. These when combined with the 92 protons it takes for Uranium to be Uranium gives us a Uranium-235 atom or . However, there are naturally occurring incidents where a Uranium atom will have 146 neutrons. In this case, this particular atom would be referred to as U-238 or . In both cases the atoms are Uranium atoms because they have the same number of protons, 92, but each of the atoms are physically different with differing nuclear properties based on the number of neutrons in the nucleus. As such there are a number of Uranium isotopes.