Question 214498: What is the charge of an ion with 38 electrons, 38 neutrons, and 35 protons?
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! This is more a chemistry question, but I happen to know a little bit about it. Remember that an ion is simply "an atom or molecule where the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge." (from Wikipedia).
Recall that the charge of an electron is -1 while the charge of a single proton is +1. If there are more protons than electrons, then the atom/molecule is positively charged which makes it a cation. If there are more electrons than protons, then the atom/molecule is negatively charged which makes it an anion.
To find the net charge, simply subtract the number of electrons from the number of protons to get: 35-38 = -3
Note: this is the same as saying: 38(1)+35(-1) = -3
So the net charge of this ion is -3 which means that it's negatively charged and that it's an anion.
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