I understand it means that it has more protons or electrons but what does ‘charge’ actually mean? I feel like I know it but I can’t explain it.
In: Chemistry
As far as I remember, if an atom has a charge of +1, that means it has a single electron less situated in it‘s most outer energy level.
Since we already measured the charge of an electron, it should be easy for you to look it up and quantify it accordingly to your relevant charge.
Yeah, the charge can be seen as energy, or charge, and is typically written in eV.
Also, the type of your question makes me think you are mostly talking about positively charged ions and negativity charged ones, in order to have a redox-reaction for example.
In that case it has nothing to do with changing proton quantities-it’s all about electrons.
-1 => 1 times negatively charged, aka +1 electron
+2 => 2 times positively charged, aka -2 electrons
Latest Answers