The symbolic notation for an isotope is expressed in the form of X where X is the chemical symbol of the element, the superscript indicates the mass number (the total number of protons and neutrons), and the subscript indicates the atomic number (the number of protons).
For an element with 8 protons, we are looking at oxygen, which has the chemical symbol O. In this case, since there are also 8 electrons, it indicates that the atom is neutrally charged, corresponding to the elemental form of oxygen.
To find the mass number, we add the number of protons and neutrons together:
- Mass Number = Protons + Neutrons
- Mass Number = 8 + 10 = 18
Now we can construct the symbolic notation. Since the atomic number (number of protons) for oxygen is 8, we denote it as a subscript.
Putting it all together, the symbolic notation for this isotope of oxygen is:
818O
This represents an isotope of oxygen with a mass number of 18.