Question

How do you make a ionic compound?

Answer 1

Electrons are transferred from a metal to a nonmetal.

Explanation:

Ionic bonding is the complete transfer of valence electron(s) between atoms. It is a type of chemical bond that generates two oppositely charged ions.

In ionic bonds, the metal loses electrons to become a positively charged cation, whereas the nonmetal accepts those electrons to become a negatively charged anion.

Taken from here.

Look at the image. Sodium has 1 electron in its outer shell. To become stable, it needs to lose that electron. Chlorine has a shortage of 1 electron to become stable.

When the transfer of the electron is complete, the sodium forms a cation and chlorine becomes an anion. `"Na"` forms a `1+` cation because its atom has lost `1` electron Chlorine forms a `1-` anion because its atom has `1` extra electron, which is shown in the image below:

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