To represent a different isotope of oxygen, Amos needs to adjust the number of neutrons in his model, since isotopes of an element differ in the number of neutrons but have the same number of protons and electrons.
In the initial model, Amos has:
- Protons: 8
- Neutrons: 10
- Electrons: 10
To create a different isotope of oxygen, he could:
- Take away two blue candies (assuming blue represents neutrons), which would reduce the number of neutrons from 10 to 8.
This would create an isotope of oxygen with 8 neutrons, which is a different isotope of oxygen (specifically, it would represent the most common stable isotope of oxygen, oxygen-16).
So, the correct adjustment to achieve a different isotope of oxygen would be:
Take away two blue candies.