Why must an atom contain equal number of protons and electrons?

Answer 1

Because protons have a positive charge and electrons have a negative charge, so if you have more electrons than protons, you have a negatively charged atom, and if you have more protons than electrons, you have a positively charged atom.

That means if you have the same amount of protons and electrons, the charge would be neutral.

Answer 2

Electrons have a relative charge of -1 whereas protons have a relative charge of +1. Since atoms are neutral and have no overall charge, the numbers of electrons and protons must be the same.

If an atom gained electrons, it would have more electrons than protons and would be negatively charged. This is a negative ion. Also called anion.

If an atom lost electrons, it would have more protons than electrons and would be positively charged. This is a positive ion. Also called cation.

Answer 3

Yes, a neutrally-charged atom has the same number of protons inside its nucleus as the number of electrons it has orbiting around outside its nucleus.

A more detailed answer

The simplest atom, hydrogen, has only one proton and no neutrons in its core whilst the cores of most atoms heavier than hydrogen contain both protons and neutrons. The mass of a neutron is about the same as the mass of a proton.

Every proton has a positive electrical charge whilst every neutron has no charge at all, meaning it is electrically neutral, which is why it was given that name.

The central core part of any complete atom is called its "nucleus". Every complete atom has negatively-charged electrons orbiting around its nucleus.

For an atom to be "neutral" - meaning that it has no overall electrical charge - it must have exactly the same number of electrons orbiting around outside its nucleus as the number of protons it contains inside its nucleus.

Answer 4

In order to be electrically neutral. In the close presence of other atoms that form an ionically bonded compound, however, atoms that do not have equal numbers of protons and neutrons exist but are properly called "ions" instead of atoms.

Answer 5

It must contain an equal number of proton and electrons because :

A proton has a positive charge

A electron has a negative charge

A neutron has no charge

All stable elements have no charge so they must have an equal number of protons and electrons to equal out their charges.

Answer 6

Actually not all atoms have the same number of electrons as protons... sometimes two atoms rub together and an electron or protons are lost.

Answer 7

because atom is an uncharged substance....if it has different amount of pronton and electron then that means it is charged... therefore for the charged atom we call it ion not atom...