I'm fairly sure it is because the atom has to be electrically neutral, and having the same number of positive and negative charges would even out. If it has an uneven charge, it would be classes as an 'ion'.
If there was a smaller amount of electrons, they would be attracted to the positive charge anyway, so it would regain the 'full set' to make it balanced.
But of course there are examples where an atom can have imbalanced numbers of neutrons, electrons and in some cases, protons.
If there was a smaller amount of electrons, they would be attracted to the positive charge anyway, so it would regain the 'full set' to make it balanced.
But of course there are examples where an atom can have imbalanced numbers of neutrons, electrons and in some cases, protons.
They are not, necessarily. If there is a difference, we call the atom an ion.
Original post by kastiel
I'm fairly sure it is because the atom has to be electrically neutral, and having the same number of positive and negative charges would even out. If it has an uneven charge, it would be classes as an 'ion'.
If there was a smaller amount of electrons, they would be attracted to the positive charge anyway, so it would regain the 'full set' to make it balanced.
But of course there are examples where an atom can have imbalanced numbers of neutrons, electrons and in some cases, protons.
If there was a smaller amount of electrons, they would be attracted to the positive charge anyway, so it would regain the 'full set' to make it balanced.
But of course there are examples where an atom can have imbalanced numbers of neutrons, electrons and in some cases, protons.
Don't quote me on this, but I think that as the proton number increases, the neutron number also increases but faster than the proton number. This is because the electrostatic force of repulsion between the protons would otherwise overcome the strong nuclear interaction, blowing the nucleus apart.
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