In my homework, it says "Examine the diagram to the right. its nucleus contains 8 protons and 8 neutrons. Is this atom an ion? Explain." How can you tell if it is an ion or not??
Thank you SO MUCH in advance!!
:-)
~Maddie!!
2007-10-17 14:59:55 · 3 answers · asked by Maddie 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
It has 8 electrons.
2007-10-17 15:14:01 · update #1
You cannot know from that information. Protons have a positive charge. Neutrons have no charge. Electrons have a negative charge. The only way to know if it were an ion is to know the number of electrons. If the number of electrons is greater than protons than it is an anion (-). If the number of protons is greater than the number of electrons then it is a cation (+). All I know about something with 8 protons and 8 neutrons is that it is it Oxygen.
**** If it has 8 electrons then it is NOT an ion. It has no net charge.
2007-10-17 15:08:31 · answer #1 · answered by Lady Geologist 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
To answer this question I need to know how many electrons it has.
An ion is an atom that has a charge (either positive or negative)
An atom with more electrons than protons will have a negative charge, while an atom with more protons than electrons has a positive charge.
If # protons - # electrons = 0 it is not an ion
2007-10-17 15:05:56 · answer #2 · answered by ok_ok361 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i cant see a diagram. However, an atom is neutrally charged and an ion has a charge allocated to it whether negative or positive.
2007-10-17 16:13:22 · answer #3 · answered by witch 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋