Is a sodium atom neutral?
be neutral, but because sodium is so reactive, we just don’t encounter sodium uncombined anywhere in nature. Table salt is sodium chloride, and the sodium atoms in this chemical compound are ions. Those atoms have loaned an electron to chlorine (which forms the chlorine ion). Sodium metal must be stored in a container full of something like kerosene, which is used to keep air (the moisture in air, actually) from reacting with the sodium metal.
