Question

briefly explain the difference between an isotope and two species that are isoelectronic provide an example for an isotope and isoelectronic species to argon-40

Answer 1

Isotope - Atomic number (number of protons) of an element is same for all the atoms and the number of neutrons are different.

₆C¹², ₆C¹³, ₆C¹⁴ are three isotopes of carbon.

Isoelectronic - the number of electrons of two elements are same or having the same electronic structure.

Ne is isoelectronic with Na+

Number of electrons in Ne = 10

Number of electrons in Na+ = 10

Isotopes of ₁₈Ar⁴⁰ = ₁₈Ar³⁶, ₁₈Ar³⁸

Number of electrons in ₁₈Ar⁴⁰ = 18

Number of electrons in K+ = 18

K+ is isoelectronic to argon-40