Does an atom always have the same number of neutrons and protons?

Answer 1

No. It is possible for one atom of an element to have a different number of neutrons than another atom of the same element. For example, H usually has no neutrons, but deuterium has 1 neutron. An atom with a different number of neutrons is called an isotope.

Answer 2

If its 2 atoms that are the same type yes.

However if its 2 different type of atoms then no.

Different amounts of protons, neutrons and electrons in an atom change things completely.

***********2nd Opinion***********

I think the questioner was asking if the number of protons in an atom always equals the number of neutrons. The short answer is no. Some do, some don't.

***********3rd Opinion***********

Longer answer:

The number of protons in an atom determines the type of atom - the type of element. Some examples:

1 proton => hydrogen, 2 protons => helium, 3 protons => lithium ...

6 protons => carbon, 7 => nitrogen, 8 => oxygen, 9 => fluorine ...

13 => aluminum, 14 => silicon ... 26 => iron, 27 => cobalt, 28 => nickel ...

47 => silver ... 78 => platinum ... 79 => gold ...

The number of neutrons varies.

Atoms of the same element with a different number of neutrons are called isotopes, and may behave differently, [articularly in the context of nuclear fission or fusion and radiation.

Except for hydrogen and helium, all atoms have at least as many neutrons as protons.

Answer 3

Yes, these are called isotopes of an element. For example the most common isotope of carbon is carbon 12, that is an atom with with 6 protons* and 6 neutrons. The next most common isotope of carbon is carbon 14, which has 8 neutrons instead.

Isotopes exist for all elements, but not all of them are stable. Carbon 14 happens to be radioactive.

*Theoretically atoms can have any number of protons and neutrons (but only o few will be stable). Only atoms made up of precisely 6 protons are carbon atoms.

Answer 4

No, atoms can have different numbers of neutrons and protons, resulting in different isotopes of the same element. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

Answer 5

An atom of a specific element has allways the same number of protons but the number of neutrons is different for different isotopes of the element.

Answer 6

Every atom has neutrons except for the most common isotope of hydrogen. 1H just has one proton in the nucleus.