Ions
Ionic Compounds
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Ionic Bonding
| Ionic bonding is perhaps the easiest of the three bond types to comprehend
because it ties in with the idea that opposites attract. Specifically, opposite electric
charges attract one another. Remember that metallic atoms tend to lose electrons. When
they do so, they become positively charged ions which are called cations.
Nonmetallic atoms tend to gain electrons to become negatively charged ions which are
called anions. These oppositely charged cations and anions are attracted
to one another because of their opposite charges. That attraction is called an ionic
bond. We often refer to the charge on the ion as the oxidation state
of that element. |
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In the pages of this section we will first consider the ions that are
formed from the elements and then the ionic compounds formed by those
ions.
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