The nucleus of tritium consists of

Options

A. 1 proton +1 neutron
B. 1 proton +1 neutrons
C. 1 proton + zero neutrons
D. 1 proton + 2 neutrons

Answer

To determine what the nucleus of tritium consists of, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand Tritium
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen. Isotopes are variants of a chemical element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

### Step 2: Identify the Atomic Number
The atomic number of hydrogen (and thus tritium) is 1. This means that tritium has 1 proton in its nucleus.

### Step 3: Determine the Mass Number
The mass number of tritium is 3. The mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

### Step 4: Calculate the Number of Neutrons
To find the number of neutrons in tritium, we can use the formula:
\[ \text{Mass Number} = \text{Number of Protons} + \text{Number of Neutrons} \]
Substituting the known values:
\[ 3 = 1 + \text{Number of Neutrons} \]
This simplifies to:
\[ \text{Number of Neutrons} = 3 - 1 = 2 \]

### Step 5: Conclusion
Thus, the nucleus of tritium consists of 1 proton and 2 neutrons.

### Final Answer
The nucleus of tritium consists of **1 proton and 2 neutrons**.

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