An ion is a particle (an atom or molecule etc.) in which the total number of electrons and protons are not the same, giving a net charge unequal to zero. If there are more electrons than protons, the particle will exhibit a negative charge, and if there are less, a positive. An anion is a negatively charged ion, while a cation is positively charged.
Types of Ions[]
An ion is classified into one or multiple groupings depending upon its charge, size and components.
Monatomic Ions[]
A monatomic (or simple) ion is composed of only one atom. Simple ions are most commonly formed when a monatomic element gains or loses one or several electrons. Common monatomic ions are fomed as per
Cl + e-→Cl-
Na→Na+ + e-
Polyatomic Ions[]
A polyatomic ion is composed of two or several elements.
Naming[]
Just like elements, ions have names. They are determined by the elements that the ion is comprised of.
Compounds are comprised of metals and non-metals. The first part of an ion is just the name of the metal element. (I.E NaCl starts with Sodium because the metal element is Sodium.)
Each non-metal has their own prefix, and the prefix is ended with a suffix that is determined by other factors.
Prefixes[]
- Boron - Bor-
- Carbon - Carbon
- Nitrogen - Nit-
- Oxygen - Ox-
- Fluorine - Fluor-
- Phosphorus - Phosphor-
- Sulfur - Sulf-
- Chlorine - Chlor-
Suffixes[]
- -ide - by itself (polyatomic ion)
- -ate - and oxygen