Helium atom has an atomic mass of 4 u and two protons in its nucleus. How many neutrons does it have?

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asked Nov 4, 2017 in Chemistry by jisu zahaan (28,760 points) 26 374 811

Helium atom has an atomic mass of 4 u and two protons in its nucleus. How many neutrons does it have?

1 Answer

+1 vote
answered Nov 4, 2017 by sforrest072 (157,439 points) 61 410 937
selected Feb 5, 2018 by sanjeev
 
Best answer

Helium atom has two neutrons. The mass of an atom is the sum of the masses of protons and neutrons present in its nucleus. 

Since helium atom has two protons, mass contributed by the two protons is (2 × 1) u = 2 u. 

Then, the remaining mass (4 − 2) u = 2 u is contributed by 2u /1u = 2 neutrons.

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