I've been trying to do this question and I'm still stuck and don't know exactly what I'm doing wrong.

Question

Question is: Isotope of an unknown element, X, has a mass number of 76. It has 36 electrons on this isotope and has a 2- charge. How many protons, and neutrons does the element have and what is the element?

I've tried it out and I thought the element to be Se, but it's wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The element is sulfur (S). It has 36 electrons, so the atomic number is 16. The mass number is 76, so the number of protons is 16 and the number of neutrons is 60.

Answer 2

36 electrons with a 2- charge means the neutral atom has 34 electrons and 34 protons, and thus 76-34 = 42 neutrons.
Looks like Selenium to me.

Answer 3

I'm still confused. Wouldn't there be more electrons than protons if the isotope was negatively charged?..