how many neutrons does oxygen have

how many neutrons does oxygen have

5 hours ago 5
Nature

Oxygen has an atomic number of 8, which means it has 8 protons. The most common isotope of oxygen, oxygen-16, has 8 neutrons as well, making the total nucleons (protons + neutrons) 16. Therefore, the typical oxygen atom has 8 neutrons

. However, oxygen also has other isotopes with different numbers of neutrons:

  • Oxygen-17 has 9 neutrons.
  • Oxygen-18 has 10 neutrons.

These isotopes are stable but less common compared to oxygen-16

. In summary:

  • Most oxygen atoms have 8 neutrons.
  • Some isotopes have 9 or 10 neutrons.

Thus, oxygen generally has 8 neutrons, but depending on the isotope, it can have 8, 9, or 10 neutrons.

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