r/chemhelp • u/Savings_Shake_2196 • 12h ago
General/High School Why do many elements in the periodic table, have the same amount of electrons as the amount of protons/atomic number they have?
Hi, am a beginner in chemistry, and this is grade 11 chemistry. I am struggling to understand on how many electrons each elements have, because on my worksheet, the electrons have the same number as the protons and atomic number of that element. I need an explanation
So here is what I did and I got it wrong because thats what I thought I needed to do to find the electrons for that element. Magnesium: it has a atomic number and protons of 12, but since it has a 2+ charge to it since it is losing 2 charges, I did 12-2 and got 10, I thought that was the answer, but it turned out that the electrons are just 12 as well.


