Ions (Simplified): Study with Video Lessons, Practice Problems & Examples

Ions are formed when elements lose or gain electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration similar to noble gases. Metals typically lose electrons, becoming positively charged cations, while nonmetals gain electrons, forming negatively charged anions. For example, boron loses three electrons to become a cation with a charge of 3+, while oxygen gains two electrons to become an anion with a charge of 2-. The term isoelectronic refers to different elements having the same number of electrons, highlighting the significance of electron transfer in ion formation.

Ions (Simplified) Concept 1

Ions are created from the losing or gaining of electrons by elements in order to become like the noble gases. Now we're going to say that a metal tends to lose electrons to become a positively charged ion called a cation, and nonmetals tend to gain electrons to become a negatively charged ion called an anion. Again, elements do this in order to obtain a stable electron arrangement like the noble gases. So that's the real reason behind them gaining or losing electrons. Now what we need to realize is that associated with this losing and gaining of electrons, we have the term isoelectronic. Isoelectronic just means elements have the same number of electrons. Alright. So just keep in mind when we're forming ions, we're either gaining or losing electrons.

Ions (Simplified) Concept 2

So when thinking of ion formation, let's take a look at boron and oxygen. Alright. So for cation formation, remember, a cation is formed from the losing of electrons. Here we're looking at Boron 11. 11, remember, it represents its mass number or atomic mass. That's the number of protons and neutrons together. 5 just gives us the number of protons within the nucleus. And if the structure is neutral, it also has 5 electrons. We can see the 5 electrons they would have. Now, the 5 electrons are orbiting the nucleus. All of a sudden, though, I decide to remove 3 of those electrons. It now only has 2 electrons remaining. It just lost 3 electrons, so as a result boron now gets a charge of 3+. Remember, for each electron lost we become more positive by 1.

On the other side, we have our anion formation. Anion means we're gaining electrons. Here we're dealing with oxygen 16. 16 is the mass number again, that's number of protons and neutrons together, so those are found within the nucleus. What we're more concerned with is that its atomic number is 8, which means it has 8 electrons when it's neutral. So here we see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. All of a sudden, though, I decide to add 2 additional electrons. So here we've added these 2 additional electrons. So it has its original 8, of course, but then I've added 2 more. When you gain electrons, you gain a negative charge. Because I gained 2 electrons, oxygen's new charge is now 2-. So here, this is what we need to think of when we talk about cation and anion formation. Are we losing electrons or are we gaining electrons?

Ions (Simplified) Example 1

So here in this example question, it states, determine the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons for the following cation. Now it's a cation because it possesses a positive charge, that positive charge being 3+. Now, when looking at the other numbers, we know that this 13 here represents our atomic number, which uses the variable Z. Remember, the atomic number gives us the number of protons, and because it's 13, that means we have 13 protons. That means that option D cannot be an answer because here, we do not have 27 protons. Next, we have the number above the 13 and 27. Remember, that is your mass number, which uses the variable A. Your mass number gives you the number of protons plus neutrons within the element or ion. From this information, we know that the number of neutrons would equal A − Z. So it's the mass number minus the atomic number. So that would be 27 minus 13, which would give us 14 neutrons. So, so far, options B and C can be the only correct choices because, in A, we do not have 27 neutrons. Now, the charge is 3+. 3+ means that you have lost electrons. It means you have lost 3 electrons. When aluminum is neutral, has no charge, it has an equal number of protons and electrons. Okay. But now we've lost 3 electrons, so what does that mean? That means we have 10 electrons remaining. So the answer would have to be C here, and if you want to double-check that you can just say we have 13 protons and 10 electrons, so we know that would be plus 13 plus minus 10, which would give us plus 3 as an answer. That proves that our charge should be plus 3 here. So out of all the choices present, only option C gives the correct number for each of the subatomic particles.

Give the correct number of protons, neutrons and electrons for the following isotope:.

• A. 35 protons, 35 neutrons, 81 electrons
• B. 35 protons, 46 neutrons, 36 electrons
• C. 81 protons, 46 neutrons, 82 electrons
• D. 35 protons, 46 neutrons, 34 electrons

In which pair are the two species both isoelectronic and isotopic?

• A.
• B.
• C.
• D.

One isotope of a metallic element has a mass number of 65 and 35 neutrons in the nucleus. The cation that this atom forms has 28 electrons. What is the symbol of the cation?

• A. ⁶⁵Zn
• B. ⁶⁵Ga³⁺
• C. ⁶⁵Zn²⁺
• D. ⁶⁵Ni²⁺

Which of the following is the symbol for the ion with a +4 charge, 30 neutrons and 21 electrons?

• A. ⁵⁵Mn⁴⁺
• B. ⁵¹Cl⁴⁺
• C. ⁵¹Mn⁴⁺
• D. ⁵⁸Ni⁴⁺

Fill in the gaps for the following table.

So here the practice question says, fill in the gaps for the following table. So for the first column, we have our symbol, and this just encompasses our element symbol and its charge. This charge comes from the result of adding up all your protons and electrons, and because of that, we can call it more specifically the net charge. So here the net charge is 3 plus. Now protons. We know that protons are equal to our atomic number \( z \). But here we don't have a column for atomic number \( z \), so we're going to say instead that the protons are connected to the electrons, and together they give us our net charge. Neutrons, we're going to say neutrons here equal your mass number, which is \( a \), minus \( z \), which is your atomic number. But, again, because we don't have atomic number as a column, we'll just say since \( z \) equals the number of protons, we're going to say it's minus protons. Then electrons, you can also group with protons in order to determine our charge. And then mass number here, mass number is \( a \). It comes from looking at the number of protons plus neutrons within an element or an ion. Then charge can be again determined by looking at the number of protons; know what its atomic number will be. We just look it up on the periodic table, we know what its atomic number will be. We just look it up on the periodic table. So CO is cobalt. It has 27 protons because its atomic number is 27. Next, determining the number of neutrons, we're going to take the mass number, which is 59, and minus it by the 27 protons, and that'll give us 32 neutrons. For electrons, we can say here for electrons the number of protons is 27. We don't know, let's see. We don't know how many electrons we have here, so electrons will be unknown. Then we're going to say next that our charge is plus 3 because here's 3 plus. We're going to subtract 27 here from both sides. Now, that gives us negative 24, which makes sense because each electron is negatively charged, so that'll give us 24 electrons. So again, we get 20 negative 24, but negative 24 means there are 24 negative electrons. So, you have to consider just being 24. For the next one, we know the proton number is 34, so we know the atomic number. Looking on the periodic table, that would give us selenium or Se as our element symbol. The mass number comes from adding up the protons plus the neutrons so that would give us 80 as our mass number. Then we know the number of protons we have is plus 34, plus our 36 electrons, that's negative 36 because each electron is negatively charged. So overall, this would be 2 minus or minus 2. So this would be selenium ion, Se 2 minus. Alright. Next, we have 76 here. Look on the periodic table that gives us OS, which is osmium. Alright. The number of electrons would be 76, plus the number of electrons, which you don't know, plus the net charge, which is 2 plus or plus 2. Subtract 76 from each side. So that would give us negative 74, which really means we have 74 negatively charged electrons. The mass number here would be 76 protons, plus 116 neutrons, so that would give us 192. And then finally we have here 80 as the number of protons. Look on the periodic table. Oh, actually one more thing, this would be osmium 2+. So we have 84 for the atomic number of the last column or last row, and that gives us HG, which is called mercury. The mass number would be the number of protons, which is 80, plus the number of neutrons, which is 120. So that's 200 for our mass number. And then finally, to determine the overall charge at the end, we have 80 positive protons plus negative 78 for the 78 electrons. So that gives us an overall 2 plus charge. So this would be mercury 2+ ion. So this is the approach you need to take in order to find out each subatomic particle, net charge, and mass number for each of the given ions.

Here’s what students ask on this topic:

What is the difference between a cation and an anion?

A cation is a positively charged ion formed when an atom loses one or more electrons. This typically occurs with metals. For example, a sodium atom (Na) loses one electron to become Na⁺. An anion, on the other hand, is a negatively charged ion formed when an atom gains one or more electrons. This usually happens with nonmetals. For instance, a chlorine atom (Cl) gains one electron to become Cl^-. The key difference lies in the charge: cations are positive due to electron loss, while anions are negative due to electron gain.

How do elements achieve a stable electron configuration through ion formation?

Elements achieve a stable electron configuration through ion formation by either losing or gaining electrons to resemble the electron configuration of noble gases. Metals tend to lose electrons, forming positively charged cations, while nonmetals gain electrons, forming negatively charged anions. For example, sodium (Na) loses one electron to achieve the electron configuration of neon (Ne), becoming Na⁺. Similarly, chlorine (Cl) gains one electron to achieve the electron configuration of argon (Ar), becoming Cl^-. This process helps elements attain a more stable, lower-energy state.

What does the term 'isoelectronic' mean in the context of ions?

The term 'isoelectronic' refers to different elements or ions that have the same number of electrons. For example, the ion Na⁺ (sodium ion) and the neutral atom Ne (neon) are isoelectronic because both have 10 electrons. This concept is important in understanding how different elements can achieve similar electron configurations through the loss or gain of electrons, leading to the formation of ions with stable electron arrangements.

How is the charge of an ion determined?

The charge of an ion is determined by the difference between the number of protons (positively charged) and electrons (negatively charged) in the atom. If an atom loses electrons, it becomes positively charged (cation) because it has more protons than electrons. For example, if a boron atom (B) loses three electrons, it becomes B³⁺. Conversely, if an atom gains electrons, it becomes negatively charged (anion) because it has more electrons than protons. For instance, if an oxygen atom (O) gains two electrons, it becomes O^2-.

Why do metals typically form cations and nonmetals form anions?

Metals typically form cations because they have relatively few electrons in their outermost shell and can achieve a stable electron configuration by losing these electrons. For example, sodium (Na) loses one electron to form Na⁺. Nonmetals, on the other hand, have more electrons in their outer shell and can achieve stability by gaining electrons to fill their valence shell. For instance, chlorine (Cl) gains one electron to form Cl^-. This tendency is driven by the elements' desire to achieve a stable electron configuration similar to that of noble gases.