A carbon-12 atom has a mass of 12.00000 amu. The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu, and the mass of a neutron is 1.00866 amu. How many protons does the carbon-12 atom have? How many neutrons does the carbon-12 atom have? What is the mass defect of a carbon-12 atom? amu

Carbon 12 has 6 protons and 6 neutrons.

The mass defect is calculated as:

(6x1.000728) + (6x1.00866) = 12.056328

The mass defect is 12-12.056328 = - 0.056328

A carbon - 12 atom and a regular carbon atom would have the same number of protons which is 6. So a carbon - 12 atom would have 6 protons. Both, however, would differ in the number of neutrons. Carbon - 12 atom has 6 neutrons. To determine the mass defect of a carbon - 12 atom, we have to add the total mass of protons and the total mass of neutrons and subtract the known mass of a carbon - 12 atom. That would be like this.

6 (1.00728 amu) + 6 (1.00866 amu) = x

6.04368 amu + 6.05196 amu = x

12.09564 amu = x

Then subtract it with 12 amu to get the defect mass

12.09564 amu - 12.00000 amu = y

0.09564 amu = y

So the defect mass would be 0.09564 amu.