A student looks up an element on the periodic table. The table says that the atomic number of the element is 12 and the mass number of the element is 40. What information do these two numbers convey about the element?aThe element has 40 protons and 12 neutronsbThe element has 12 protons and 12 neutronscThe element has 12 protons and has 28 neutronsdThe element has 28 protons and 40 neutrons

Answer 1

To interpret the information given:

1. The atomic number (12) indicates the number of protons in the atom. Therefore, this element has 12 protons.
2. The mass number (40) represents the total number of protons and neutrons in the atom.

To find the number of neutrons, you can use the formula:

\[ \text{Mass Number} = \text{Number of Protons} + \text{Number of Neutrons} \]

In this case:

\[ 40 = 12 + \text{Number of Neutrons} \]

Rearranging this gives:

\[ \text{Number of Neutrons} = 40 - 12 = 28 \]

Putting it all together, the element has 12 protons and 28 neutrons.

So, the correct answer is:

c) The element has 12 protons and has 28 neutrons.