The relationship between ionic charge and the number of valence electrons for an element is an essential concept in chemistry. To fully understand you must first understand both trends separately and then use electron configurations to see the relationship.

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Finding Charge on Ions: [ Ссылка ]
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Writing Electron Configurations: [ Ссылка ]
Electron Configuration for Na+ : [ Ссылка ]
Electron Configuration for Cl- : [ Ссылка ]

Ionic charge results when an atom gains or loses an electron. If electrons are gained the ion will be negative (think of it as the atom has gained electrons which are negative). If electrons are lost the ion will be positive. There is a regular pattern for ionic charge on the Periodic Table based on an elements Group number.

Valence electrons are the electrons in the highest energy level of an atom. These electrons can be lost or gained in ionic bonds (or shared for covalent compounds). The Group number provided valuable information about the number of valence electrons for an element.

The relationship between ionic charge in the number of valence electrons is that atoms with 1, 2 or 3 valence electrons tend to lose those electrons when forming chemical bonds. Since they loss electrons they form positive ions. Atoms with five, six, or seven, valence electrons tend to gain more electrons to get a complete outer shell (eight valence electrons). Therefore they become negative ions.

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