Question

What type of ions do metals naturally form? Negative ions, by gaining electrons to fill the valence shell Negative ions, by losing electrons to empty the valence shell Positive ions, by gaining electrons to fill the valence shell Positive ions, by losing electrons to empty the valence shell

Answer 1

Answer: Option (d) is the correct answer.

Explanation:

Metals are the species which contain more number of electrons.

When a specie loses electrons then it acquires a positive charge. Whereas when an atom gains electrons then it acquires a negative charge.

Thus, as metals have more number of electrons, therefore, in order to gain stability metals readily lose electrons.

Hence, metals naturally form positive ions, by losing electrons to empty the valence shell.

Answer 2

Answer: The correct answer is positive ions, by losing electrons to empty the valence shell.

Explanation:

Metals are defined as the elements which loose electrons to attain stable electronic configurations. If an element looses an electron, it will have more number of protons and thus will carry a positive charge on it.

Examples of metals are Sodium (Na), Calcium (Ca) etc.

Sodium metal has atomic number of 11 and electronic configuration of $1s^22s^22p^63s^1$. As, this element will loose 1 electron and thus will form $Na^+$ ion.

Calcium metal has atomic number of 20 and electronic configuration of $1s^22s^22p^63s^23p^64s^2$. As, this element will loose 2 electrons and thus will form $Ca^{2+}$ ion.

Hence, the correct answer is positive ions, by losing electrons to empty the valence shell.