What happens when a sodium atom becomes a sodium ion?
The sodium atom is an atom with 11 protons and 11 neutrons in the nucleus, and 11 electrons in the outer shells. You might know that protons have a positive charge and electrons have a negative charge, so the 11 electrons and the 11 protons cancel each other out to make an atom that is electrically neutral. When the sodium atom becomes an ion, it loses an electron. because it has lost one negative charge, the charge is no longer balanced, so the overall ion becomes positively charged. Therefore we write the sodium ion as Na+. The + indicates that the ion is positively charged. An example a sodium ion is when you dissolve table salt (NaCl) in water. The sodium chloride molecule is broken apart by the water leaving sodium and chloride ions ‘floating’ around so to say!
