Nucleon Number
The Nucleon Number
- The nucleon number, also called the mass number, has the symbol \(A\)
- Shows how many protons and neutrons combined are in the atom
- Since each proton and neutron has a relative mass of 1, and the electrons have a very small mass, the nucleon number is a good estimator of the actual mass of the atom
- Nuclide notation summarises all the information about an atom
- \(_{z}^aX\) where A is the nucleon number, Z is the proton number and X is the element