The Nucleus (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double Award)): Revision Note

Composition of the nucleus

• A nucleus is composed of:

  • positively charged protons

  • neutrally charged neutrons

• Hence a nucleus has an overall positive charge

 Structure of the atom

Protons and neutrons are found in the nucleus of an atom

Describing the nucleus

Proton number, Z

• The number of protons in an atom is called its proton number (it can also be called the atomic number)

  • Elements in the periodic table are ordered by their atomic number

  • Therefore, the number of protons determines which element an atom is

• The atomic number of a particular element is always the same

• For example:

  • Hydrogen has an atomic number of 1. It always has just one proton

  • Sodium has an atomic number of 11. It has 11 protons

  • Uranium has an atomic number of 92. It has 92 protons

• The atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons in an atom

  • This is because atoms have the same number of electrons and protons in order to have no overall charge

Nucleon number, A

• The total number of particles in the nucleus of an atom is called its nucleon number (or mass number)

• The mass number is the number of protons and neutrons in the atom

Calculating the number of neutrons

• The number of neutrons can be found by subtracting the atomic number from the mass number

• For example, if a sodium atom has a mass number of 23 and an atomic number of 11, then the number of neutrons would be 23 – 11 = 12

Nuclide notation

• Atomic symbols are written in a specific notation called ZXA or nuclide notation

  • The top number A represents the nucleon number

  • The lower number Z represents the proton number

Nuclide notation

Atomic symbols in AZX nuclide notation describe the constituents of nuclei

• A nuclide is a group of atoms containing the same number of protons and neutrons

  • For example, 5 atoms of oxygen are all the same nuclide but are 5 separate atoms

• An example of nuclide notation is:

Example of lithium nuclide notation

Atomic symbols, like the one above, describe the constituents of nuclei

Isotopes

• An element may have more than one isotope

• Isotopes occur naturally, but some are more rare than others

• For example, about 2 in every 10,000 Hydrogen atoms is called deuterium

  • Tritium is even more rare (about 1 in every billion billion hydrogen atoms) isotope of hydrogen

• Some isotopes are radioactive 

  • When radioactive isotopes decay alpha or beta particles or gamma radiation is emitted

• Examples of radioactive isotopes include:

  • Carbon-14

  • Plutonium-210

  • Technetium-99m

  • Uranium-235