Atoms with very low atomic numbers have about the same number of neutrons and protons; as Z gets larger, however, stable nuclei will have more neutrons than protons. Nuclei with more than 83 protons are all unstable, and will eventually break up into smaller pieces; this is known as radioactivity.

In unstable nuclei the strong nuclear forces do not generate enough binding energy to hold the nucleus together permanently. Too many neutrons or protons upset this balance disrupting the binding energy from the strong nuclear forces making the nucleus unstable. …

The presence of too many protons and neutrons in heavier nuclei will upset the balance and binding energy of nuclear force, which make the nucleus unstable. Such an unstable nucleus achieves the balance by giving off the neutron and proton via radioactive decay.

The principal factor for determining whether a nucleus is stable is the neutron to proton ratio. Elements with (Z<20) are lighter and these elements’ nuclei and have a ratio of 1:1 and prefer to have the same amount of protons and neutrons.

These isotopes are called radioisotopes. Their nuclei are unstable, so they break down, or decay, and emit radiation. Q: What makes the nucleus of a radioisotope unstable? A: The nucleus may be unstable because it has too many protons or an unstable ratio of protons to neutrons.

Because carbon-14 has six protons, it is still carbon, but the two extra neutrons make the nucleus unstable. In order to reach a more stable state, carbon-14 releases a negatively charged particle from its nucleus that turns one of the neutrons into a proton.

Lead-206 is a stable isotope because it will not decay into a different element (non-stable isotopes will undergo radioactive decay and change into a…

Examples of Isotopes:

• Carbon-14. A naturally occurring radioactive isotope of carbon having six protons and eight neutrons in the nucleus.
• Iodine-131. It is an isotope because it contains a different number of neutrons from the element iodine.
• Tritium.

Isotope Facts All elements have isotopes. There are two main types of isotopes: stable and unstable (radioactive). There are 254 known stable isotopes.

Examples of radioactive isotopes include carbon-14, tritium (hydrogen-3), chlorine-36, uranium-235, and uranium-238. Some isotopes are known to have extremely long half-lives (in the order of hundreds of millions of years). Such isotopes are commonly referred to as stable nuclides or stable isotopes.

Multiply your answer by 100 to get a percentage. For example, 0.1988 x 100 = 19.88 percent. Subtract this value from 100 percent to find the abundance of the other isotope. For example, 100 – 19.88 = 80.12 percent.

Isotope Notation For example, an isotope with 6 protons and 6 neutrons is carbon-12 or C-12. An isotope with 6 protons and 7 neutrons is carbon-13 or C-16. Note the mass number of two isotopes may be the same, even though they are different elements. For example, you could have carbon-14 and nitrogen-14.

Isotopes are identified by their mass, which is the total number of protons and neutrons. There are two ways that isotopes are generally written. They both use the mass of the atom where mass = (number of protons) + (number of neutrons).

Isotopes can either form spontaneously (naturally) through radioactive decay of a nucleus (i.e., emission of energy in the form of alpha particles, beta particles, neutrons, and photons) or artificially by bombarding a stable nucleus with charged particles via accelerators or neutrons in a nuclear reactors.

Radioactive isotopes, or radioisotopes, are species of chemical elements that are produced through the natural decay of atoms. Exposure to radiation generally is considered harmful to the human body, but radioisotopes are highly valuable in medicine, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Stable isotopes are elements with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons. Carbon exists as two stable isotopes: 12C, which has six electrons, six protons, and six neutrons, and 13C, which has six electrons, six protons, and seven neutrons.

The most widely used radioactive pharmaceutical for diagnostic studies in nuclear medicine. Different chemical forms are used for brain, bone, liver, spleen and kidney imaging and also for blood flow studies. Used to locate leaks in industrial pipe lines…and in oil well studies.

Stable Isotopes Used in Terrestrial Systems

• Carbon (13C/12C)
• Nitrogen (15N/14N)
• Hydrogen (2H/1H)
• Carbon (13C/12C)
• Nitrogen (15N/14N)
• Oxygen (18O/16O)
• Strontium (87Sr/86Sr)
• Sulfur (34S/32S)

Carbon-12, the most common isotope of carbon, contains six protons and six neutrons. Therefore, it has a mass number of 12 (six protons and six neutrons) and an atomic number of 6 (which makes it carbon). Carbon-14 contains six protons and eight neutrons.

The most common isotope can be found by rounding the atomic weight found on the periodic table of elements to the nearest whole number.

Carbon-14, which is radioactive, is the isotope used in radiocarbon dating and radiolabeling.

What do all isotopes of an element have in common? Explain why carbon-14 and nitrogen-14 are not considered isotopes of each other? Because they are two different elements. Same mass number but different atomic number.