What does atomic number mean?

Definitions for atomic number
atom·ic num·ber

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word atomic number.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. atomic numbernoun

    the order of an element in Mendeleyev's table of the elements; equal to the number of protons in the nucleus or electrons in the neutral state of an atom of an element

Wiktionary

  1. atomic numbernoun

    The number, equal to the number of protons in an atom that determines its chemical properties. Symbol: Z

Wikipedia

  1. Atomic number

    The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol Z) of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (np) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element. The atomic number can be used to uniquely identify ordinary chemical elements. In an ordinary uncharged atom, the atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons. For an ordinary atom, the sum of the atomic number Z and the neutron number N gives the atom's atomic mass number A. Since protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass (and the mass of the electrons is negligible for many purposes) and the mass defect of the nucleon binding is always small compared to the nucleon mass, the atomic mass of any atom, when expressed in unified atomic mass units (making a quantity called the "relative isotopic mass"), is within 1% of the whole number A. Atoms with the same atomic number but different neutron numbers, and hence different mass numbers, are known as isotopes. A little more than three-quarters of naturally occurring elements exist as a mixture of isotopes (see monoisotopic elements), and the average isotopic mass of an isotopic mixture for an element (called the relative atomic mass) in a defined environment on Earth, determines the element's standard atomic weight. Historically, it was these atomic weights of elements (in comparison to hydrogen) that were the quantities measurable by chemists in the 19th century. The conventional symbol Z comes from the German word Zahl 'number', which, before the modern synthesis of ideas from chemistry and physics, merely denoted an element's numerical place in the periodic table, whose order was then approximately, but not completely, consistent with the order of the elements by atomic weights. Only after 1915, with the suggestion and evidence that this Z number was also the nuclear charge and a physical characteristic of atoms, did the word Atomzahl (and its English equivalent atomic number) come into common use in this context.

Wikidata

  1. Atomic number

    In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element. In an atom of neutral charge, the atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons. The atomic number, Z, should not be confused with the mass number, A, which is the number of nucleons, the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. The number of neutrons, N, is known as the neutron number of the atom; thus, A = Z + N. Since protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass, and the mass defect of nucleon binding is always small compared to the nucleon mass, the atomic mass of any atom, when expressed in unified atomic mass units is roughly equal to the whole number A. Atoms having the same atomic number Z but different neutron number N, and hence different atomic masses, are known as isotopes. A little more than three-quarters of naturally occurring elements exist as a mixture of isotopes, and the average isotopic mass of an isotopic mixture for an element in a defined environment on Earth, determines the element's standard atomic weight. Historically, it was these atomic weights of elements that were the quantities measurable by chemists in the 19th century.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of atomic number in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of atomic number in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8


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"atomic number." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/atomic+number>.

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