CHEM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Creative Commons License, Ionic Compound, Noble Gas
Document Summary
Some elements will lose electrons while others will gain electrons. Metals lose electrons to form a cation (positively charged ion). Nonmetals will gain electrons to form an anion (negatively charged ion). You can use the periodic table to predict whether an atom will form an anion or a cation, and you can often predict the charge of the resulting ion. Atoms of many main-group metals lose enough electrons to leave them with the same number of electrons as an atom of the preceding noble gas. When atoms of nonmetal elements form ions, they generally gain enough electrons to give them the same number of electrons as an atom of the next noble gas in the periodic table. Practice problem: magnesium and nitrogen react to form an ionic compound. Write the symbol for each ion and name them. _________________ Your turn: rubidium and selenium react to form a compound.
