Answer to Question #118441 in Atomic and Nuclear Physics for Abdi

Question

An atom has 3 protons and 3 neutrons. What is the atomic number?

Answer 1

We know that atomic number or proton number is the number of protons in the nucleus (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_number). The atom in question has 3 protons so the atomic number is 3.

We should distinguish atomic number and mass number. Latter is the sum of atomic number and number of neutrons, so for the atom in question the mass number is 3+3 = 6.

We may determine that the atom in question is Lithium-6, because Lithium has 3 protons in nucleus.