Isobars

Isobars are atoms that belong to different elements — that is, they have different atomic numbers Z — but happen to share the same mass number A. Because isobars are genuinely different elements, with different numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons, they occupy different positions in the periodic table and show different chemical properties; sharing a mass number is purely a numerical coincidence of A = Z + N adding up the same way for two unrelated elements. A textbook example is $^{14}_{6}C$ (6 protons, 8 neutrons) and $^{14}_{7}N$ (7 protons, 7 neutrons): both have …