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.
