Answer to Question #181700 in Atomic and Nuclear Physics for Jade

Question

Why the atomic number is called the fingerprint of elements

Answer 1

One particular chemical element is different from another chemical element because they have different number of protons and electrons. Atomic number is a number that shows exactly this. Two different elements may have the same mass number. Also, the same chemical element may have different mass numbers (isotopes). So what really shows us the nature of a particular atom is atomic number, it is indeed like a fingerprint looking at which we identify the element.