>>14131184There is an isotope of hydrogen with a neutron. It’s called deuterium.
Anyways, neutrons serve to counteract the repulsive electromagnetic force between protons. Two protons put next to each other wouldn’t work, they’d just repel each other. That’s why the most common isotope of helium (2 protons) contains 2 neutrons. The neutrons add enough strong nuclear force to keep the nucleus of the atom together.
Hydrogen only has one proton, so there is no repelling force and consequently it is stable without a neutron. Tritium, the isotope of hydrogen with two neutrons, is unstable and radioactive. Neutrons are unstable due to the weak nuclear force, and will undergo beta decay if not kept stable through the strong force. Make the nucleus too big, and the neutrons are unstable again and will beta decay. This is why the heavier elements at the bottom right of the periodic table are unstable.
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