Question

How do you represent the following atom ?

Potassium

Answer 1

General representation of an atom of element:

1. The general representation of an atom of an element is ${}_{\mathrm{Z}}{}^{\mathrm{A}}\mathrm{X}$.
2. Here, $\mathrm{X}$ is the chemical symbol of element, $\mathrm{Z}$ is atomic number and $\mathrm{A}$ is mass number.

Representation of Potassium atom:

1. The chemical symbol for Potassium is $\mathrm{K}$. Thus, $\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{K}$.
2. The atomic number of Potassium is $19$. Thus, $\mathrm{Z}=19$.
3. The mass number of Potassium is $39$. Thus, $\mathrm{A}=39$.

Thus, Potassium atom is represented as ${}_{19}{}^{39}\mathrm{K}$.