Question

Hi, I am having a hard time with isotopes.
I know that isotopes are atoms of the same element with different neutrons.
SO does the element carbon made up of several types of isotopes ?

Answer 1

There are different isotopes of the element carbon, C-12, C-13, and C-14

Answer 2

their abundances vary though, C-12 is the most common

Answer 3

so an element is composed of these 3 isotopes but in varying amounts. is this correct or not?

Answer 4

yeah, pretty much.

Answer 5

the wording is a little funny, i would say that there are 3 isotopes of the element carbon

Answer 6

thank you for helping me but I just need a little bit more clarification
are these isotopes always present together in an element

Answer 7

that's what i thought you might've meant when you said "composed". An element refers to the type of atom with a certain number of protons. Isotopes are different atoms, same number of protons but different amount of neutrons. They are not present at the same time as they are different particles. Say if you had 100 tennis balls to represent all the carbon atoms, 98 of them would be the carbon atom with 6 neutrons (C-12), 1 would be C-13 and the one left C-14.

Answer 8

okay I understand what you are saying.
So the element carbon has isotopes but they are not present all at once in an element.

Answer 9

you're getting the words a little mixed up. This "but they are not present all at once in an element." is not right. The term element refers to all the atoms with the same number of protons, so "element" is not a unit, it's a type of atom. Isotopes are atoms with same number of protons, so they are all "the element".

Answer 10

sorry for being so nitpicky, i dont want you to leave with the wrong idea about the terminology

Answer 11

I appreciate your input. SO all the isotopes of carbon make up the element of carbon

Answer 12

is that what you mean by this statement
Isotopes are atoms with same number of protons, so they are all "the element".

Answer 13

yeah, thats what i meant, i was just trying to avoid saying "make up" or "composed" because that usually means that it's "built from those parts", but thats not the case here.

Answer 14

because the way i understood it was that atoms are the building blocks of an element

Answer 15

so thats why i keep using make up ot composed of

Answer 16

um they're not building blocks in the physical sense that there is an object called "the element of carbon" and all the isotopes are inside of it. It's more of a grouping thing, the isotopes of carbon are scattered throughout the universe, so the element is not an object, it's a category. When you talk about individual units, you use the word "atom".

Answer 17

that you so much. that allows me to to understand the concept of element and atoms a lot better. these book definitions are horrible.

Answer 18

yeah, there is so much jargon, it's confusing at first but you'll get the hang of it.