Question

Differentiate between the properties of isotopes of carbon.

Answer 1

Isotopes:

• The atoms of the same element having the same atomic number but different mass numbers are known as isotopes. i.e. same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.
• The chemical properties of isotopes are similar as they have the same number of electrons and protons.
• Physical properties of isotopes like mass, melting point, boiling point, freezing point, density, etc. are different as they have different masses.

Isotopes of Carbon $\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{C}\mathbf{\right)}$:

Carbon has three isotopes: $\mathrm{C}-12$, $\mathrm{C}-13$ and $\mathrm{C}-14$.

$\mathrm{C}-12$:

1. It contains $6$ protons and $6$ neutrons.
2. It is represented as ${}_6{}^{12}\mathrm{C}$.

$\mathrm{C}-13$:

1. It contains $6$ protons and $7$ neutrons.
2. It is represented as ${}_6{}^{13}\mathrm{C}$.

$\mathrm{C}-14$:

1. It contains $6$ protons and $8$ neutrons.
2. It is represented as ${}_6{}^{14}\mathrm{C}$.

Differentiation between properties of isotopes of Carbon:

• The mass of $\mathrm{C}-12$ isotope is lower than that of $\mathrm{C}-13$ and $\mathrm{C}-14$.
• Thus, the density of $\mathrm{C}-12$ isotope is lower than that of $\mathrm{C}-13$ and $\mathrm{C}-14$.
• Similarly, other properties like melting point, boiling point, and freezing point are different for all the isotopes i.e. $\mathrm{C}-12$, $\mathrm{C}-13$ and $\mathrm{C}-14$.