Question

Wt is the difference between isotopes and isobars

Answer 1

Isotopes are:

Atoms having same atomic number, but different mass number.

This does essentially mean that they have same number of protons or electrons but different number of neutrons.

Also, their valency is same. ( because same number of electrons ). So they are chemically alike.

E.g. Hydrogen ( mass 1 ), Deutritium (mass 2 ), Tritium ( mass 3).

Whereas,

Isobars are:

Atoms having same mass number but different atomic number.

So they do essentially have different number of protons or electrons.

They differ chemically but their physical properties may be similar.

E.g. 40Ar, 40K, and 40Ca.

Answer 2

Isotopes are derived from same elements which have different atomic mass but identical atomic numbers. For example - There are three isotopes of hydrogen namely Protrium,Deuterium and Tritium. They all have same atomic no which is 1 but different atomic mass.Protium has 1 amu,Deuterium has 2 amu and Tritium has 3 amu. You know the reason of differnt atomic mass. The reason is that they all have different number of neutrons. P has 0, D has 1 and T has 2 but they all have same number of protons.They also have same valency. This is because they also have equal no of electrons. On the other hand, isobars are much more different than isotopes. Isobars are those different elements which have same atomic mass but different atomic number. I mean to say that they have same number of nuecleons(neutrons and protons) but different number of proton or electron.For example - Argon with atomic mass 40 and Calcium with atomic mass 40
40 but they all have differenr atomic number which are 18 and 20 respectively.