What is the difference between an anion and cation?

[Jose Robles 1D]

A decent description or elaboration would be appreciated. Can you also please provide an example?

[Maya Gollamudi 1G]

Anions and cations form usually between metals and nonmetals: when one atom's electronegativity is significantly higher than the other atom's so that one atom removes an electron from the other. As a result, a positive ion (cation) and a negative ion (anion) are formed.

An example would be the salt NaCl- where Na+ is the cation and Cl- is the anion.

[Hannah Pham]

An anion is an atom that accepts electrons making it have a negative charge and a cation is an atom that donates electrons making it positively charged. Usually cations are metals and nonmetals are anions. An example of a cation is Na+ and an example of an anion is Cl-.

[Shimei_2F]

The net electrical charge of an anion is negative and a cation is positive. For example, sulfate is an anion and ammonium is a cation.

[zoedfinch1K]

Remember an ion is a charged particle. An anion is a negatively charged particle such as Cl-. A cation is a positively charged particle such as Na+.

[Prasanna Padmanabham 4I]

anions are ions that are negatively charged (have more electrons than normal), and cations are those that are positively charged (have less electrons than normal).

[Shail Avasthi 2C]

An anion is an ion with a negative charge and a cation is an ion with a positive charge. (The way I remember this is that the "t" in cation looks like a plus sign which makes it positively charged.)

[Elizabeth Johnson 1I]

this is a stupid way of remembering it, but I like cats so cations are positive and I dislike onions, so anions are negative