EK Chemistry 1001 ques. 7

[sbook2]

Hi all,

This question asks "If E represents any real element, which of the following statements must be true concerning the element E as shown?"
A
E
Z

The answers choices:
a) the value of A is larger than Z
b) the value of Z is larger than A
c) if E is an ion the value of Z is negative
d) the value of Z cannot be larger than the value of A

So, I think this is a super easy question and chose answer choice a. The answer key says that it should be answer choice d. The explanation is "Since Z is the number of protons and A is the number protons plus neutrons, Z cannot be larger than A".

Am I going loopy here or is the answer key wrong?

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[sazerac]

A and Z could be the same, eliminating both (a) and (b).

 

[Teleologist]

The answer key is correct.

 

[Teleologist]

A and Z could be the same, eliminating both (a) and (b).

So an element with no neutrons exists?

EDIT: oops, I forgot about 1H.

 

[sbook2]

Oh. I forgot about H too, thanks!

 

[NextStepTutor_3]

It's easy to forget about hydrogen! Just wanted to mention that this is where people tend to get confused about deuterium (D), or "heavy hydrogen," which comes up occasionally in the organic chem section. Regular hydrogen has one proton and no neutrons; deuterium has one proton and one neutron, making it a heavier isotope of hydrogen.

For some reason, everyone tends to forget and think that regular hydrogen has one neutron and one proton, and then get super confused about D.