Homework help :)?????????

Question

a calcium atom and a calcium ion differ in the number of what particle? its one of the following: protons, nuetrons, or electrons.

Answer 1

what makes something an ion is when it gains or loses a electron, giving it a charge.

Answer 2

Well I'm suprised this wasn't covered in your class, it's a fundamental basic principle of chemistry.

In an atom, you have a nucleus in the middle, which is built from neutrons and protons, and electrons outside the nucleus buzzing around it.

In an atom, the number of electrons the same as the number of protons. Now, protons are postively charged particles, and electrons are negatively charged. So you can see that in an atom, the overall electrical charge is zero. Or "neutral"....since the protons and electrons balance each other up.

Now an ion is what happens when an atom "reacts" with another particle and either gives away some electrons, or recieves some extra. So after that occurs, the atom (now known as an ion) is going to have either a negative or positive electrical charge - because it still has the same number of protons as it did before, but as lost or gained electrons.

So the answer to your question is electrons, but I hope you also understand why now.

Answer 3

Electrons.

Answer 4

electrons