Hydrogen atom, with square extracted from periodic table showing hydrogen's atomic number
Atomic number

An element's entry in the periodic table allows you to determine the number of sub-atomic particles in that element's atoms. The atomic number, shown in the bottom left corner, tells you the number of protons in the atom. In the case of hydrogen, this number is one.

Because the number of protons equals the number of electrons, this atomic number also tells you the number of electrons. So:

  • Atomic number = the number of protons (= the number of electrons)