The nucleus of an atom consists of neutrons and protons. Among these two particles, protons are positively charged, while the neutrons do not have any charge. In other words, neutrons are neutrally charged. The nucleus is surrounded by the electrons, which are negatively charged particles. The mass of an atom is made up of neutrons and protons, while the electrons are considered mostly massless (their mass is about 3 orders of magnitude less than that of neutrons and protons). Thus, the mass number or atomic mass number of an element is the sum of neutrons and protons in its atoms. For example, the mass number of sodium, with 12 neutrons and 11 protons, is 23. Neutrons do not contribute to the atomic number of an atom, which is same as the number of protons in the atom.
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