Iron is a transition metal. With transition metals you cannot count on knowing the ionic charge just from its position in the periodic table. For most transition metals, you will have to look up what charges actually exist for that element. You can look these up in your textbook or you can look back at the list in your workbook. However, you should have memorized the charges for copper and iron. Iron has an ion with a +2 charge called iron(II) ion or ferrous ion, and one with a +3 charge called iron(III) ion or ferric ion. Chlorine, of course, has a -1 charge.

Because there are two types of cations, two different compounds can be formed. When the Fe²⁺ combines with chloride, you will get FeCl₂. FeCl₂ is named iron(II) chloride because it is made of iron(II) ions and chloride ions. It can also be called ferrous chloride.