How do you know how many an atom contains and how many electrons the entire ion has either lost or gained?

Question

Chemistry

Landin Hurst

11 July, 15:05

How do you know how many an atom contains and how many electrons the entire ion has either lost or gained?

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Answers (1)

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Alice Faulkner · Answer 1

If you mean how many electrons an atom contains then this is the same as the atomic number of the atom. For example, the atomic number of oxygen is 8 so it contains 8 protons. Since in a stable atom, the number of protons is equal to the number of electrons, oxygen contains 8 electrons.

If you have an ion and you want to know how many electrons it has lost or gained, you look at the charge. If it is a 2 + ion then it has lost two electrons, if it's a - ion then it has gained an electron. The number of electrons in an ion is the atomic number + / - the charge shown. For example a Mg2 + ion would have 10 electrons as a magnesium atom has 12 electrons and loses two to form the 2 + ion.