Question

the atomic number of oxygen is 6. this means that oxygen has 6 positively charged particles called protons in its nucleus. An atom does not possess any charge. what is the number of electrons (negatively charged particles) in an oxygen atom?

Answer 1

Hello! Your answer is 6 electrons.

You're looking at an atom with 6 protons. This means that its charge is 6+, or 6 times positively charged. To balance this out, and make it not have a charge, we add electrons. For each electron, there is -1 charge. Therefore, we are looking at 6 electrons to cancel out the 6+ charge.

Hope this helps!