Question

Difference between isotopes and isobars​

Answer 1

Isotopes have the same atomic number, while isobars have the same atomic mass. Isotopes : Isotopes are atoms that have same atomic number but different mass numbers. Isotopes have the same atomic number because the number of protons inside their nuclei remains the same.

Answer 2

Isotopes :-

Atoms of the same element can be different. These different atoms of the same element are called isotopes. They are different from each other by having a different number of neutrons. Since the neutron number is different, their mass number also differs. However, the isotopes of the same element have the same number of protons and neutrons. Different isotopes present in varying quantities, and this is given as a percentage value called relative abundance. For example, hydrogen has three isotopes as protium, deuterium and tritium.

Isobars :-

Isobars are atoms of different elements with the same mass number but their atomic numbers are different. In other words, they have different number of protons. For example, 40S, 40Cl, 40Ar, 40K, and 40Ca have the same mass number as 40. However, as you know atomic number of sulfur is 16, chlorine – 17, argon – 18, potassium – 19 and calcium – 20. Mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons the atoms has. Since the above atoms have different number of protons, to get the same mass number they should have different neutrons. For example, sulfur should have 24 neutrons and chlorine should have 23 neutrons. Mass number is also known as nucleons. Therefore, we can define isobars as atoms of different elements with the same nucleons.