CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

can someone explain the difference between cation and anion? How can I memorize it?

cation ion is + charged like Ca2+

anion is - charged like Cl-

I remember it by anion starts with a, just like antonym, and the antonym is the opposite so I think of negative. Any type of memory cue that will make sense to you will work. Maybe think how cats are positively cute, so cations are +. whatever will work for you.

As a side note, another key difference between anions and cations is that anions will always be larger than their parent atom, while a cation will always be smaller than their parent atoms. Since electrons make up the bulk of an atom's mass the loss of electron(s) would result in a smaller atom (cation) and the gaining of electron(s) would result in a larger atom (anion) relative to their parent atom.

Another way is that Cations have a "t" which is similar to a plus sign so its an easy way to know its a positive charge. And anions are just the opposite. Also when you loose electrons, you have a positive charge and when you gain electrons you have negative charge.

Those with a negative charge are called anions and those with a positive charge are called cations. The way I remember is that anions have two n's for negative and cations have a "t" just like the plus sign for positive.

Cations are positive and anions are negative. I know a weird way that helps me remember the charges.

Cations:
Cats have paws. Therefore, [cat]ions are [paw]sitive

I hope that makes sense^.

Anions are negatively-charged, while cations are positively-charged. The way I remember it is that "cations" has a "t" just like in positivi-T!

Cation is positive, which means the atom lost electrons. Anions are negative, which means the atom gained electrons.

Are there any trends that occur on the periodic table with cations and anions?

Every ionic bond will result in the formation of an anion and a cation. The anion is the atom which receives the electron (usually the nonmetal with a large EN) and the cation is the atom which donates the electron (usually the metal with a low EN). Because of this, we can say that as EN increases going right across the periodic table, so does the likelihood of the element forming an anion when in an ionic bond. Vice versa, we can say that as EN decreases going left across the periodic table, so does the likelihood of an element forming a cation when in an ionic bond.

I remember the difference between a cation and anion by seeing that anion starts with an "a" just like the work add. So for anions you add electrons.

Cations are positive, which means the atom lost electrons.

Anions are negative, which means the atom gained electrons.

Cations have positive charges and give an electron while anions are negatively charged and receive an electron.

It helps to think of these in terms of a cation makes the ion "more positive" by removing electrons. Becuase an electron is negatively charged, removing it will make the element more positive. Correspondingly, an anion makes an element more negative by adding more electrons.

Maybe you can just remember that anions kind of sounds like "anti-ions" which obviously means negative.