How do isotopes exist?

Answer 1

Isotopes are simply atoms that have different number of neutrons, but the same number of protons and electrons.

If we had an atom with 1 proton and 1 electron, we'd have ordinary hydrogen.

But if we had an atom with 1 proton, 1 neutron, and 1 electron, we'd have the second isotope of hydrogen, also known as deuterium (see my screen name).

If we had an atom with 1 proton, 2 neutrons, and 1 electron, we'd have the third isotope of hydrogen, also known as tritium.

Isotopes with more neutrons are heavier, as you might expect. However, their chemical properties are just the same as isotopes with fewer neutrons. Some isotopes are more common than others, but most atoms are naturally found with multiple isotopes.

As for how they got there, well, basically all matter on Earth is made of the remains of exploded stars, including your own body. The tremendous energy of an exploding star rips apart atoms, creating new atoms in a variety of isotopes.

Answer 2

An isotope is like a human being without an arm, or with an extra arm. They would just function differently, but are essentially the same person. An element is defined by the number of protons it has. An isotope is defined by the number of neutrons it has. And an ion is defined by the number of electrons it has.

Answer 3

Isotopes are atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons; the different possible versions of each element are called isotopes. For example, the most common isotope of hydrogen has no neutrons at all; there's also a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, with one neutron, and another, tritium, with two neutrons. If you want to refer to a certain isotope, you write it like this: AXZ. Here X is the chemical symbol for the element, Z is the atomic number, and A is the number of neutrons and protons combined, called the mass number. For instance, ordinary hydrogen is written 1H1, deuterium is 2H1, and tritium is 3H1.

Answer 4

See carbon 14 in Wikipedia for an explanation. Isotopes have the same number of protons as the "normal" or most common version of the element, but a greater number of neutrons due to exposure to radioactivity during the formation of the sample.