Answer:
A carbon-14 atom has 6 protons, 8 neutrons and 6 electrons. The number 12 or 14 in the name of carbon-12 and carbon-14 refers to their atomic mass.
Explanation:
Those atoms that have the same "atomic number" but differente "atomic mass" (or atomic weight) are called isotopes.
Atomic number indicates the amount of electrons that an atom has, which matchs with the number of protons it has.
Atomic mass indicates the sum of protons and neutrons that an atom has.
Example with carbon-12:
carbon atomic number = 6 (find this information in a periodic table)
electrons= 6
protons= 6
carbon atomic mass = 12 (find this information in a periodic table)
neutrons= atomic mass - number of protons= 12-6 = 6 neutrons
Using the same analysis for carbon-14:
carbon atomic number = 6
electrons= 6
protons= 6
carbon atomic mass = 14
neutrons= atomic mass - number of protons = 14-6 = 8 neutrons
In this way, carbon-14 is an isotope of carbon-12 because carbon-14 has the same atomic number than carbono-12 but different atomic mass.
