Cation, Anion

[Annaleese Ramos 1E]

How am I able to tell what element is a cation or anion ?

[406003024 3B]

Generally, a cation is a positively charged because it has more protons than electrons. An anion is negatively charged because it has more electrons than protons. If an atom gains an electron, it is an anion. If an atom loses an electron, it is a cation. Hope that helps.

[Brandon Melamed 1B]

Hi,

Just to add some further clarification, we generally see that metals on the left side of the periodic table will form cations, while nonmetals on the right side of the periodic table will form anions. Adding onto the previous reply, metals in groups 1 and 2 are more likely to form cations because they only have 1 or 2 valence electrons, so they tend to lose these electrons easily in order to reach an octet. Meanwhile, nonmetals in groups 5, 6, and 7 are more likely to form anions because they have 5, 6, or 7 valence electrons, so they tend to gain electrons in order to reach an octet.