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Carbon has two stable isotopes — Carbon-12 (¹²C) with 6 neutrons and Carbon-13 (¹³C) with 7 neutrons. Both have:
ADifferent colours
BThe same chemical properties because chemistry depends on electrons, which are the same in both isotopes (6 electrons each)
CDifferent numbers of protons
DDifferent chemical properties because they have different masses
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. The same chemical properties because chemistry depends on electrons, which are the same in both isotopes (6 electrons each)
Chemical behaviour depends on electrons (which determine bonding). Both ¹²C and ¹³C have 6 electrons, so they behave identically in chemical reactions. The mass difference shows up only in physical properties (mass spectrometry, slight differences in reaction rates — the 'kinetic isotope effect').
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