A carbon atom with 6 protons and 8 neutrons is more specifically known as?
over a hundred
carbon 12
carbon 8
carbon 14
An example of a radioisotope is carbon-14. All carbon atoms have 6 protons, and most have 6 neutrons. These carbon atoms are called carbon-12, where 12 is the mass number (6 protons + 6 neutrons). A tiny percentage of carbon atoms have 8 neutrons instead of the usual 6. These atoms are called carbon-14 (6 protons + 8 neutrons). The nuclei of carbon-14 are unstable because they have too many neutrons. To be stable, a small nucleus like carbon, with just 6 protons, must have a 1:1 ratio of protons to neutrons. In other words, it must have the same number of neutrons as protons. In a large nucleus, with many protons, the ratio must be 2:1 or even 3:1 protons to neutrons.