A chemist is identifying the elements present in a sample of seawater. What characteristic of an element’s atoms always determines the element’s identity?

Question

A chemist is identifying the elements present in a sample of seawater. What characteristic of an element’s atoms always determines the element’s identity?
Responses
A	The number of protonsThe number of protons
B	The number of neutronsThe number of neutrons
C	The number of protons and neutronsThe number of protons and neutrons
D	The number of electrons and neutrons

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct answer is: **A The number of protons** The number of protons in an atom defines the element's identity, as it determines the atomic number, which is unique for each element.