So, what would the charge be of aluminium when it LOSES or GAINS electrons to become more stable and please show how you did thatExHow would you find out how much the element would lose or gain to become more stable and how you would find the new chargeAlso, please show why you did each stepThanks a ton! Also: When you are finding how many electron an atom would lose or gain to get a full outer level would you take into consideration the full amount of electrons in the energy level or would you just look at the electron configuration pattern and find out how many electrons there would be in that energy level until it jumped to another? (EX3s^2 3p^6 4s^2: it would be jumping from the 3rd energy level to the 4th energy level inbetween 3p^6 and 4s^2)
The charge on an individual electron is ?1.6022 ×10^?19 C [1]This is a discrete charge so adding an electron reduces the overall charge by 1.6022 ×10^?19 C and removing an electron increases the charge by that amountAtoms, before addition or removal of electrons, have zero net charge, although there is a distribution of that charge between the nucleus and the electron shellsTechnically this answers your primary question, however I suspect you are really asking a broader question When forming ions, electrons are added or removed from the outer shell to form a stable configurationFor row 1 or row 2 elements in the periodic table, the octet rule [2] will helpElements with only a few outer shell electrons will find it easier to lose those electrons, whereas elements with almost complete outer shells will find it easier to accept electronsThe number of electrons added or removed will determine the charge by increasing or reducing the charge by -1.6022 ×10^?19 C for each electronIn your example of aluminium you have an electron configuration of (Ne) 3s2 3p1Because there are only a few outer shell electrons this would tend to lose electronsTypically aluminium would form ions by removal of between one and three electronsThis can be seen in the oxidation states of 1, 2 and 3 for aluminium [3]Other states are possible, they're just not energetically favoured Removal of electrons when forming an ion is a wholesale thingThis isn't jumping from one energy level to another, but a complete removal from the electron shellsExcitation (moving an electron from a lower to a higher energy level) does not create an ion (unless the energy is sufficient for dissociation) and when the excitation source is removed the energy levels are restored and the excess energy emitted in the form of lightYou've really touched on a lot of topics hereI've tried to cover most of theseHopefully there's enough here to help a littleEnjoy :)
