Electronics - Voltage and Current - Discussion

Answer is proton.

The number of protons in an atom is the atomic number.

The number of protons is equal to the atomic number of an atom. It is very important in knowing the number of electrons that surround the nucleus of an atom. In an atom, the electrical charge is neutral, due to the equal number of positive (protons) and negative (electrons) charges. The atomic number represents the protons in an atom and also identifies the element. Hydrogen has one proton. No other atom has just one proton. Heluim has two protons and no other element has only two protons. Lithium has three protons and so on.

The atomic number is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus, and for neutral atoms, it is the same as the number of electrons. In an attempt to keep atoms and ions from getting confused with one another, it is best to think of atoms as always being electrically neutral and ions should be considered charged positively or negatively depending on whether electrons are gained or lost by an atom during the chemical combination of atoms in forming substances such as water, salt and rust found on metals. Protons in atoms and ions are always the same for a specific atom.

Every element has a unique atomic number, and so each element's identity is determined by the number of protons in its nucleus.

However, the same element can have different numbers of neutrons in its nucleus. Two atoms of the same element with two different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus are called isotopes. Also, note that if an atom is not charged (neutral) , then the number of protons must equal the number of electrons, and so the atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons in a neutral atom of each element.

However, if the atom is charged (and therefore called an ion) , it will have a different number of electrons orbiting it. If the number of electrons is less than the number of protons, it will be a positively charged ion, and the charge will equal the difference between the number of electrons and protons. The same is true if it has more electrons than protons, except now the charge will be negative.

If we lost one or more electron in an atom structure due to bond formation or chemical reaction that is positively charged ion, here num of protons in that atom was not change. So num of proton > num of electron.

If we gained one or more electron in an atom structure due to bond formation or chemical reaction that is negatively charged ion, here num of protons in that atom was not change. So num of proton < num of electron.

In both cases num of neutron is changed, but num of protons remains constant.

That's why we said num of protons decide atomic number.

An Atom is a stable particle made up of a Nucleus surrounded by Protons and Electrons. Both protons and electrons have equal but opposite charges.

The stability is due to the cancellation of forces of -ve charges of electrons with that of +ve charges of protons. The number of protons in a nucleus is called the atomic number and equals the number of electrons in orbit about that nucleus in a non-ionized atom. Elements are made up of Atoms.

So all atoms that have the same number of protons (the atomic number) are atoms of the same element.

For any atom with atomic number N, atomic mass Z & no. of neutrons 'n', we have,

Atomic mass number= Z+n...(1)

So, atomic number N is given by

N=Atomic mass number - Atomic mass

=(Z+n)-Z

=n.

Which means that atomic number depends upon number of neutrons & hence 'D' should be the correct option.

I think the atomic number is the number of either electrons or protons in an atom, however since electrons can be affected any time by being lost or gained therefore it is safer to choose the answer as protons for the atomic number as we all know that an atom doesn't lose or gain any protons.

In a neutal atom of element the no. of electrons=no. of protons
But in bond formation or chemical reaction no. of electrons can change while the no. of protons remain the same in the nucleus.
We consider the no. of protons in nucleus == ATOMIC NUMBER of an element.

For an atom electron and proton number is same for the stability of the particular atom. In the time of chemical reaction proton will be neutral and nonreactive but always the electron number varies. So to get a stabilized answer I will go with proton.

No of protons and no of electrons are equal in an atom. But while in stages of sharing, sharing of electrons only takes place. So that no of protons is constant in an atom.

So that I agree atomic Number=no of protons.

As electrons number gets changed while sharing, but electrons and protons no. Is always equal in an atom. So both can determine an atomic number. Maybe the answer is proton due to its consistency.

In every chemical reaction the no. of electron is vary i.e. increase or decrease, but the no. of proton remain same in every condition, thereby I decide that option (B) is correct.