How come protonation does not make an isotope of the next element in the periodic table?

Question

Ammonium is NH4 made by the protonation of Nitrogen. How come when you add a proton to Nitrogen it does not become an isotope of Oxygen...since it has the same proton number. How come Ammonium is not OH4?

Answer 1

Protonation is NOT A NUCLEAR REACTION

It is a chemical reaction consisting to add a H+ ion to an atom or a molecule to make an ion.

So , there is only the electronic shells which are changed

To make a new isotpe, you should incorporate a proton in the nucleus

Answer 2

Consider the formation of NH3, the Haber process. The formation of NH4 from NH3 involves dative(coordinate covalent bonding) between NH3 and an H+ ion. Dative bonding is the sharing of a pair of electrons between 2 atoms, whereby both electrons are provided by the donor atom, N in this case. N therefore only share electrons but does not receive any proton fron H+. The proton still belongs to H+, therefore not creating any isotope of oxygen or whatever element.

Answer 3

The proton (hydrogen ion) is bonded chemically to nitrogen in the example that you give. It would have to be included in the nucleus to change the atomic number of the element. While such events can happen, it requires a lot of energy to force a proton into the nucleus. This can be done in high energy accelerators like the one at Fermilab or Cern.

Answer 4

When they say "protonation" they mean the addition of hydrogen atoms. Whenever "protonation" is said just think addition of Hydrogen!! (Hydrogen has 1 proton) Chemical reactions do not change the nucleus of the atoms!

Answer 5

Because protonation only adds a proton and not a neutron!