Consider the gold isotope 197Au. How many electrons, protons, and neutrons are in a neutral 197Au atom?

The 197Au isotope has 79 protons, 79 electrons and 118 neutrons

Explanation:

Step 1: The isotope = 197Au

Step 2: Calculate neutrons, electrons and protons

197 = Number of protons + number of neutrons

Isotopes always have the same proton number (is the same as the atomic number). For Gold (Au) is this 79.

The number of electrons is equal to the number of protons in a neutral atom. Since we have 79 protons, there are also 79 electrons.

All isotopes of Au have a different number of neutrons.

The number of neutrons = 197 - 79 = 118 neutrons

The 197Au isotope has 79 protons, 79 electrons and 118 neutrons