Key terms
This is a negatively charged ion formed when an atom gains electrons.
What is an anion?
To become a positively charged cation, an atom must do this to one or more electrons.
What is lose electrons?
This shorthand way of writing the name of a compound tells you the type and ratio of atoms present.
What is a chemical formula?
Using the swap-and-drop method for Barium (Ba) and Chlorine (Cl), this is the resulting formula.
What is BaCl2?
What is an ionic bond?
Atoms gain or lose electrons to achieve this type of stable electron arrangement.
What is a stable noble gas configuration?
This number, written to the right and slightly below a symbol, quantifies the ionic ratio.
What is a subscript?
When ions have charges that can be simplified, like Pb(4+)and O(2-), this is the final formula for Lead(IV) oxide.
PbO2
This term refers to the "attracting power" of an atom or the charge of an ion.
What is valency?
In bonding diagrams, these are the only electrons that are considered essential to show.
What are valence electrons?
This is the chemical formula for a compound made of one Sodium ion and one Chloride ion.
What is NaCl?
This is the ratio of Potassium ions to Sulfur ions in the compound potassium sulphide
What is a 2:1 ratio?
A three-dimensional repeating pattern or structure formed by ions.
What is a lattice?
This happens to the electron configuration of a Sodium atom (2, 8, 1) when it becomes an ion.
What is it becomes 2, 8?
This trick is used to determine chemical formulas by moving the superscript charge numbers.
What is the swap-and-drop method?