Why Do Ions Form?

Why Do Ions Form?

You might have experienced this question when you were still doing your chemistry classes. As you may already know, an ion is an atom/molecule that doesn’t have the total number of electrons compared to the number of protons. It has no definite charge and can be both positive and negative.

Ions form when two or more elements need to combine together to form a new one. This also happens when an element is exposed to a new element and the possibility to merge is an option. Positive and negative attracts and must always have the same equality to make the attraction possible. The process of losing or gaining electrons causes ions to form. When the process needs to process energies, electrons will either increase its numbers or decrease to make the process possible.

An ion that has only one atom is called a monatomic ion. If it has more than one atom then it is called an apolyatomic ion. Ions are also categorized as two different charges, namely positive and negative. The positive charged ions are called cations and the negatively charged ions are called anions.

Ionic bonding is very common among ions. Since ion is prone to attraction there are cases on which ions bond together to form a new element. Salt is one good example of such attraction.
The roles of ions are very important to living organisms as well. Cells needed ions to survive and thrive. People use ionic elements for everyday living as well. Some of the examples of ions that we need are sodium, calcium and potassium.