How many CHARGED nuclear, and electronic particles are present in #"potassium nitride"#?

1 Answer
anor277
Mar 21, 2017

In potassium nitride I count #"64 protons"# and #"64 electrons"#.

Explanation:

This is a neutral salt, and as such there must be equality between electrons, and nuclear protons. Nitrogen has an atomic number, #Z=7#. Potassium has an atomic number, #Z=19#.

So there are #7+3xx19=64*"protons"#; and there must be an equal number of electrons in the neutral salt: #3xx18+10=64*"electrons"#. All I am doing is using the atomic numbers of potassium and nitrogen to tell me how many protons there are, and how many electrons there must be in the ions #K^+# and #N^(3-)#.

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