How many protons and how many neutrons are in (a) 3He, (b) 20Ne, (c) 60Co?

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Please help! I know how to find basic protons and neutrons, but I am obviously missing something here! Any explanation would be wonderful.How many protons and how many neutrons are in (a) 3He, (b) 20Ne, (c) 60Co? N (He)Z (He)Z (Ne)N (Ne)Thank you in advance!

Prof. Carmelo Hilpert · Accepted Answer

You need a periodic table or similar. _________________________For 3He (helium-3):1) Look up helium’s atomic number (e.g. from the periodic table).You will find it is 2 That means it contains 2 protons. Z=2.(You should probably remember this as it is physics ‘general knowledge’; also remember that hydrogen has atomic number=1.)2) We are looking at 3He. The ‘3’ is the total number of protons + neutrons. To get the number of neutrons, subtract Z from 3. 3-2=1. So there is 1 neutron. N=1._______________________The same method is used for 20Ne and 60Co.If that’s not clear, watch the first 3 or 4 minutes of the video in the link, which explains this more clearly.

Dr. Reggie Bosco DVM

How many protons and how many neutrons are in (a) 3He, (b) 20Ne, (c) 60Co?

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