Question

Question #4c3aa

Answer 1

For neutral atoms, you'll always have a net charge equal to zero. This happens because a neutral atom has equal numbers of protons and electrons.

Elements are listed in the periodic table in order of their atomic numbers, symbol `"Z"`, which represent the number of protons they have in their nucleus. So, for a neutral atom, the number of electrons will be equal to that atom's atomic number.

`"number of e"^(-) = Z` `->` for neutral atoms

The number of neutrons an atom has in its nucleus is determined by using its mass number, symbol `"A"`, which represents the total number of protons and neutrons that atom has. Therefore, you can determine how many neutrons you have by using

#"neutrons" = "mass number" - "atomic number"#

which is equivalent to

`N = A - Z = (N + p) - p` - protons plus neutrons minus protons.

So, for any element in the periodic table, you'll have

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Net charge is determined by comparing the number of protons and the number of electrons an atom has. So,

`"Z" - "number of electrons" = "net charge"`

I'll redirect you to a more detailed answer on determining net charge because I don't want this answer to become very long:

http://socratic.org/questions/i-want-to-know-how-to-get-the-net-charge-for-each-element