The number of protons is what defines the element. Oxygen, for example, has eight protons. However, the number of neutrons in an atom can vary, leading to different forms of elements, called isotopes.

Researchers have developed a simple, sustainable and economic way to make the common household and industrial chemical, ...

Our own cells burn food with oxygen and contrive to conserve the energy ... oxidation of food (via a series of steps) is used to pump protons across a membrane — the dam — creating, in effect ...

In the water molecule, the oxygen and hydrogen atoms share electrons in covalent bonds. There are a total of 10 protons and 10 electrons, so the water molecule is neutral. The electron cloud model ...

Image of the emission of 4 neutrons (blue spheres) from the exotic nucleus oxygen-28, which consists of 8 protons (red spheres) and 20 neutrons.

When two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom get close enough, the electron from each atom feels an attraction from the protons in the other atom's nucleus. This attraction pulls the atoms together. The ...

“We have been trying for decades to understand how plants split water into oxygen, protons, and electrons,” said coauthor Vittal Yachandra of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in a press ...