Competency #6
Answer and Explanation
Similarities
- Sodium atoms and ions each have 11 protons in the nucleus. Without 11 protons in the nucleus, it would not be sodium!
- Sodium atoms and ions both have 12 neutrons, on average.
Differences
- Sodium atoms are neutral, while sodium ions are not. To be neutral, a sodium atom must have 11 electrons to offset the 11 protons. By contrast, a sodium ion has 1 less electron (for a total of 10), giving it an overall charge of +1.
- Sodium atoms do not have a full outer shell, while sodium ions do have a full outer shell.
- It is possible to observe a chunk of pure sodium metal, with all Na atoms. It is not possible to observe a chunk of pure Na +1 ions, there must always be negative ions also present to balance out the charge. Thus, you can observe a chunk of NaCl, which has Na+1 ions in it, but there are also Cl-1 ions present.
- Sodium atoms make use of 3 electron shells, while sodium ions use only the first 2 electron shells.
© 2008 Anne Arundel Community College