Why do isotopes have the same chemical properties?

Isotopes have the same chemical properties because they have the same number of protons and electrons.

Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number, but not in proton number. This means that all isotopes of an element have the same atomic number (number of protons) and hence, the same position in the periodic table. The chemical properties of an element are determined by the number of protons and electrons it has, not the number of neutrons. Therefore, isotopes of the same element will have the same chemical properties.

The reason for this is that chemical reactions involve the transfer or sharing of electrons between atoms. The number of protons in an atom (its atomic number) determines the number of electrons in a neutral atom of that element. Since isotopes have the same atomic number, they have the same number of electrons. The arrangement of these electrons in energy levels, or shells, determines how an atom will react with other atoms.

For example, carbon-12 and carbon-14 are both isotopes of carbon. They have the same number of protons (6) and electrons (6), but different numbers of neutrons (6 and 8, respectively). Despite this difference in neutron number, they both react chemically in the same way because their electron configurations are identical.

In summary, isotopes have the same chemical properties because they have the same number of protons and electrons, which are the key players in chemical reactions. The number of neutrons, which differs among isotopes, does not affect an element's chemical properties.