Charge number oxidation number of a monatomic ion. For example, the oxidation number of <chem>Li+</chem> is +1. This helps when trying to solve oxidation questions. A charge number also can help when drawing Lewis dot structures. For example, if the structure is an ion, the charge will be included outside of the Lewis dot structure. Since there is a negative charge on the outside of the Lewis dot structure, one electron needs to be added to the structure. If the charge was positive, an electron would be lost and taken away. For an atomic nucleus, which can be regarded as an ion
Mass-to-charge ratio a scalar property, meaning that it can be either positive (+) or negative (−). The Coulomb (C) is the SI unit of charge; however, other units can be used, such as expressing charge in terms of the elementary charge (e). The SI unit of the physical quantity "m"/"Q" is kilogram per coulomb. The units and notation above are used when dealing with the physics of mass spectrometry; however, the "m"/"z" notation is used for the independent variable in a mass spectrum. This notation eases data interpretation since it is numerically more related to the unified atomic mass unit. The "m"