There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon: 12, 13, and 14. C and 13C are stable, occurring in a natural proportion of approximately 93:1. C is produced by thermal neutrons from cosmic radiation in the upper atmosphere, and is transported down to earth to be absorbed by living biological material.

What are the stable isotopes of a carbon?

Carbon occurs naturally in three isotopes: carbon 12, which has 6 neutrons (plus 6 protons equals 12), carbon 13, which has 7 neutrons, and carbon 14, which has 8 neutrons.

What are the three stable isotopes of carbon?

There are three isotopes of carbon found in nature – carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14. All three have six protons, but their neutron numbers - 6, 7, and 8, respectively - all differ.

How many carbon isotopes are stable?

two stable There are two stable carbon isotopes, carbon 12 (6 protons and 6 neutrons) and carbon 13 (6 protons and 7 neutrons).

What are the stable isotopes of carbon answer?

By far the most common isotope of carbon is carbon-12 (12C), which contains six neutrons in addition to its six protons. The next heaviest carbon isotope, carbon-13 (13C), has seven neutrons. Both 12C and 13C are called stable isotopes since they do not decay into other forms or elements over time.