Isotopes of an element have nuclei with the same number of protons (the same atomic number) but different numbers of neutrons.
Part of the Computing fundamentals glossary: An isotope is a form of a chemical element whose atomic nucleus contains a specific number of neutron s, in addition to the number of proton s that uniquely defines the element. The nuclei of most atom s contain neutrons as well as protons. For any element, one of the isotopes is more abundant in nature than any of the others, although often multiple isotopes of a single element are mixed. The isotope of an element is defined by the nucleon number, which is the sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons in the atomic nucleus. An isotope has same number of protons but a different number of neutrons as the original element in the atomic nucleus; it has the same atomic number as the element which isn' … t an isotope, but will have a different mass number. Isotopes of an element have nuclei with the same number of protons (the same atomic number) but different numbers of neutrons. Therefore, isotopes have different mass numbers, which give the total number of nucleons-the number of protons plus neutrons. 1 Isotopes have the same atomic number (same number of protons), but a different atomic mass number (a different number of neutrons). 2  Isotopes behave the same chemically, because they are the same element. 3  The only difference is that one is heavier than the other, because of the additional neutrons. Each combination of an element with a different number of neutrons is called an isotope. Isotopes that are radioactive disintegrate or decay in a predictable way and at a specific rate to make other isotopes. The radioactive isotope is called the parent, and the isotope formed by the decay is called the daughter. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have a different number of neutrons. Therefore, isotopes have the following characteristics: 1  Isotopes have the same atomic number (same number of protons), but a different atomic mass number (a different number of neutrons).
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what are isotopes of an element