Do Hydrogen isotopes contain neutrons?

The isotopes of hydrogen come with neutrons even when the usual atom of hydrogen does not come with any electrons. The three isotopes are the following: hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium. These isotopes can be hard to distinguish from each other but one thing that you can do so that you will know which is to look at the number of neutrons that each isotope has.

Deuterium comes with one neutron. Tritium comes with two neutrons while the usual hydrogen isotope will not come with any neutron. The neutrons are available in order to balance the number of protons that can be found in the isotope. The more protons that are present, the more neutrons are required to keep the atom stable.

The element hydrogen has three isotopes: hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium. Each one of these have one single proton, but they have different number of neutrons. For Hydrogen, there are no neutrons, and deuterium has one neutron. Then, tritium has two neutrons in its structure.


The mass numbers of the isotopes of hydrogen have mass numbers referred to by nuclear symbols of 1H, 2H, and 3H. These isotopes have only a single electron that balances the charge of the single proton. The dependence on the interactions of protons with electrons are crucial in chemistry and the chemical properties of isotopes are nearly the same. Thus the hydrogen isotopes do not contain neutrons.

Even though the Hydrogen atom does not have a neutron, 2 out of the 3 Hydrogen isotopes have neutrons in them. Hydrogen-1 or Protium contains a single proton and a neutron while Hydrogen-2 or Deuterium has one electron, one proton, and one neutron.

Deuterium can be found in ocean water and in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is not toxic and radioactive but can be a potential fuel for nuclear fusion. Hydrogen-3 or Tritium contains one electron, 2 protons, and 2 neutrons.

Unlike the first two isotopes which are not dangerous, this isotope is used nuclear weapons testings. It was commonly used before in biological and chemical labeling experiments that became less frequent in these modern times.