The nucleus of an atom contains most of its mass. A formula for the radius of the nucleus is r = (1.2 x 10^-15)A^1/3 meters, where A is the number of neutrons and protons. If the radius of the nucleus is 2.75 x 10^-15 meters, which atom is it?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Hmm, interesting question. You can easily find the number of neutrons and protons, but we need a way to distinguish the protons from the neutrons to know what atom it actually is. Are you given any more information?

anonymous · Answer

no...

anonymous · Answer

Hmm, well, we can get the first part done by simply solving for A. (you are given a value for r, so this should be easy).

I'm not sure how to get the number of protons out of that information, however, which would tell us what atom it actually is, unless they tell you something about the charge of the nucleus, or something like that.

anonymous · Answer

Judging by what you get for $A$, I think you can make a pretty confident guess for what the atom is.