Second, instead of having a circle around the chemical symbol to represent the electron shell, they have up to eight dots around the symbol each dot represents a valence electron. When atoms gain electron/s, the negatively charged ion is formed, and when the atoms lose electron/s, the positively charged ion is formed. This electric charge generated on the ion is known as Ionic charge. Name of ion KEY Ion formula When there is more than one common ion, the more common ion is shown on top. The common ionic charges of the elements are shown in the table below. Ionic charge: When the atom loses or gains one or more electrons, the electric charge is generated (and an ion is formed). These diagrams have two advantages over the electron shell diagrams. List of elements with their common ionic charges. Within a group (family) of elements, atoms form ions of a certain charge.Ĭhemists use simple diagrams to show an atom’s valence electrons and how they transfer. The charge that an atom acquires when it becomes an ion is related to the structure of the periodic table. For elements with no stable isotopes, the mass number of the isotope with the longest half-life is in parentheses.

Periodic table with charges of ions