Can subatomic particles be taken from and added to other atoms? *

True

False

What is created when a neutron is added to an atom? *

Isotope

Ion

Igloo

What region of an atom does the neutron get added to? *

Orbits Nucleus

Nucleus

The cloud

So, if an atom has equal numbers of electrons and protons, the charges cancel each other out and the atom has a neutral charge. You could add a thousand neutrons into the mix and the charge would not change. However, if you add a thousand neutrons, you will be creating one super-radioactive atom. Neutrons play a major role in the mass and radioactive properties of atoms. You may have read the page on isotopes. Isotopes are created when you change the normal number of neutrons in an atom.

Atoms are neutral; they contain the same number of protons as electrons. By definition, an ion is an electrically charged particle produced by either removing electrons from a neutral atom to give a positive ion or adding electrons to a neutral atom to give a negative ion. When an ion is formed, the number of protons does not change.

Neutrons have no charge, have mass, and are also located in the nucleus of the atom.