subatomic particles of elements

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what does the atomic number of an element represent?

how many protons are in the nucleus of one atom

because protons and neutrons are both heavy subatomic particles, most of the mass of the atom comes from these

to find the number of protons, electrons, and neutrons for an element, take the atomic number- that is the number of protons. to balance that, we need the same number of negatively charged electrons, so it ends up that there is the same number of electrons & protons

to find how many neutrons, take the atomic mass number minus the atomic number- that is your answer

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