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.
Formal charges are charges we assign to each atom in a Lewis structure. This is not to be confused. with the net charge of an ion. For example, the nitrate ion, NO3. â has a net charge of â1. The N atom. has a formal charge of +1 and each oxygen atom that is singly-bonded to N has a formal charge of â1.