What happens if a neutral atom loses an electron

As clothes rub together in the machine, electrons get knocked from one atom to another. The result is the all-too familiar static cling. Electricity and strong electric fields do a good job of creating ions think lightning. The neutral state of an atom is typically the most stable configuration unless molecular bonds and the chemical environment complicates the picture , so ions tend to discharge and return to their neutral state over time.

The reason for this is that, as an ion, the atom has a strong electric field that attracts the needed electron or the needed atom to take its extra electron. But once the atom becomes neutral, it has an equal number of electrons and protons, it does not have a very strong field, and therefore has little possibility of changing.

Topics: atom , atoms , charge , electromagnetism , electron , electrons , ion , ionization , ionize , neutral atoms , proton , protons , static. Atoms without an equal number of electrons and protons are more common than many people realize, such as the atoms found in table salt.

A neutral chlorine atom, for example, contains 17 protons and 17 electrons. By adding one more electron we get a negatively charged Cl - ion with a net charge of When these atoms gain electrons, they acquire a negative charge because they now possess more electrons than protons. Negatively charged ions are called anions. Most nonmetals become anions when they make ionic compounds.

A neutral chlorine atom has seven electrons in its outermost shell. In table salt, this electron comes from the sodium atom. In this case, the ion has the same outermost shell as the original atom, but now that shell has eight electrons in it.

Once again, the octet rule has been satisfied. Their presence or absence will have no direct bearing upon whether an object is charged or uncharged. Their role in the atom is merely to provide stability to the nucleus, a subject not discussed in The Physics Classroom. When it comes to the drama of static electricity, electrons and protons become the main characters.

Like mass, the charge of an object is a measurable quantity. The charge possessed by an object is often expressed using the scientific unit known as the Coulomb. Just as mass is measured in grams or kilograms, charge is measured in units of Coulombs abbreviated C. To illustrate the magnitude of 1 Coulomb, an object would need an excess of 6. And of course an object with a shortage of 6. The charge on a single electron is The quantity of charge on an object reflects the amount of imbalance between electrons and protons on that object.

Thus, to determine the total charge of a positively charged object an object with an excess of protons , one must subtract the total number of electrons from the total number of protons. This operation yields the number of excess protons. A similar process is used to determine the total charge of a negatively charged object an object with an excess of electrons , except that the number of protons is first subtracted from the number of electrons.

In conclusion, an electrically neutral object is an object that has a balance of protons and electrons. In contrast, a charged object has an imbalance of protons and electrons. Determining the quantity of charge on such an object involves a counting process ; the total number of electrons and protons are compared to determine the difference between the number of protons and electrons.

This difference is multiplied by 1. The type of charge positive or negative is determined by whether the protons or the electrons are in excess. Use your understanding of charge to answer the following questions. When finished, click the button to view the answers.

Negatively charged objects have protons; it's just their number of electrons is greater than their number of protons. Electrically neutral atoms simply possess the same number of electrons as protons.

This gives the objects a balance of both type of charge. Identify the following particles as being charged or uncharged. If charged, indicate whether they are charged positively or negatively. See Answer Answers: a. Charged Negatively. There are 11 electrons and 10 protons. This results in an imbalance of charge.