Using the words glass and grass, students practice using the G-blends at the start of a word. Students have to write a sentence using the word and think of three more words that start with the same blend.
Ions are electrically charged particles. Cations have a positive (+ ) charge. Anions have a negative (-) charge. Ions have a charge because electrons can be transferred. The charge is produced when atoms gain electrons (to form anions) or lose electrons (to form cations). Sodium, Na, is in group 1A. It loses one electron to form the sodium ion, Na1+. The charge is written after the symbol as a superscript.
So which process is more likely to occur? In general, itâs easy to gain or lose electrons but very difficult to gain or lose protons. So atoms become ions by gaining or losing electrons. And ions that have a positive charge are called cations. The progression goes like this: The sodium ion shown above is formed from the loss of one electron. Because it lost an electron, it has more protons than electrons, or more positive charges than negative charges, which means itâs now called the: