What is the difference between Ion and Isotope?

Ion is an atom or molecule that contains charge on it either positive or negative. Ions either lose or gain electrons and hence, they always contain a charge.

An isotope is known to be a variant that contains electrons. It will have an equal number of protons, but the electron count will be different. The physical properties of the atom and the isotope are also different from each other. It will be best to compare different atoms and isotopes first to gain a better understanding of their similarities and differences.

Atoms of the same element can be dissimilar. These dissimilar atoms of the like element are named isotopes. They are divergent from each other by having a different number of neutrons. Different isotopes appear in varying quantities, and this is given as a percentage value called relative abundance. The amount of neutrons a nucleus can hold varies from element to element.

Among these isotypes, only some are stable. Most atoms are not stable because they don't have filled valence shells. Atoms try to accomplish the valence shell by obtaining the noble gas configuration by gaining electrons, donating electrons, and sharing electrons. Ions are created because of the first two approaches (gaining and donating electrons). Electropositive atoms tend to develop ions by donating electrons.

Ion and isotope mean two different things. An ion is an atom or group of atoms that bears an electrical charge. It refers to the same element that a different numbers of electrons because it has either lost or gained electrons. Cations are positively charged ions. Such ions have lost electrons from their energy levels. Anion refers to ions that gain electrons to their energy level, and they are negatively charged.

Examples of ions include: Ca2+, Al3+, Cl-, and Fe2+ Isotope refers to any of two or more forms of an element where the atoms have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons within their nuclei. As a result of this, atoms of isotopes will have the same atomic number but have a different mass number. A common example of an isotope is Carbon 12 and Carbon 14.