Isotope electrons in the neutral (non-ionized) atom. Each atomic number identifies a specific element, but not the isotope; an atom of a given element may have a wide range in its number of neutrons. The number of nucleons (both protons and neutrons) in the nucleus is the atom's mass number, and each isotope of a given element has a different mass number. For example, carbon-12, carbon-13 and carbon-14 are three isotopes of the element carbon with mass numbers 12, 13 and 14 respectively. The atomic number of carbon is 6, which means that every carbon atom has 6 protons, so that
Standard atomic weight universe. Argon produced directly by stellar nucleosynthesis, is dominated by the alpha-process nuclide . Correspondingly, solar argon contains 84.6% (according to solar wind measurements), and the ratio of the three isotopes Ar : Ar : Ar in the atmospheres of the outer planets is 8400 : 1600 : 1. The atomic weight of argon in the Sun and most of the universe, therefore, would be only approximately 36.3. Famously, the published atomic weight value comes with an uncertainty. This uncertainty (and related: precision) follows from its definition, the source being "terrestrial and stable". Systematic causes for uncertainty are: These three