Protons and Neutrons Activity

Follow the directions and answer the following questions on a scratch

sheet of paper. One person in your partnership should be the “arranger”
and the other person in your partnership should be the “recorder”.

1. How many protons are present?

2. How many neutrons are present?

3. Arrange ALL the protons and neutrons so that you make 2 different
nuclei that are the same element and have the same mass (so you
should have 2 of the same exact atom). Write the nuclear symbol for
this type of atom.

4. Arrange ALL the protons and neutrons so that you make 2 different
nuclei that are isotopes of each other. Write the nuclear symbol for
each of these types of atoms.

5. Arrange ALL the protons and neutrons so that you make 2 different
nuclei that are different elements with the same mass. Write the
nuclear symbols of each of these types of atoms.

6. Arrange ALL the protons and neutrons so that you make 2 different
nuclei that are different elements and one element’s mass is
quadruple the other’s. Write the nuclear symbols for each of these
types of atoms.
Teacher Information:
Make baggies that contain 4 paper cut-out circles with “+” signs and 6 paper
cut-out circles with “0” signs. Make enough sets so that students can work in
partners. Give each pair of students a set of the following directions:

Answers:

1) 4 p+

2) 6 n0
5
3) He
2

6 4
4) He &
2 2 He (other answers are acceptable)
5 5
5) H
1 & Li
3

2 8
6) H &
1 3 Li