Sarah is asked to sort out the list of ions and ionic compounds. How can Sarah differentiate between the ions and ionic compounds? Ions have a positive or negative charge, but an ionic compound's overall charge is zero. Ions have no charge, but ionic compounds have a positive charge. Ions have no charge, but ionic compounds have a negative charge. Ions have a positive or negative charge, but an ionic compound's overall charge is negative.

Ionic compounds are compounds said to contain ions, which are atoms that have either lost electrons to be POSITIVELY CHARGED or gained electrons to be NEGATIVELY CHARGED. The negatively charged ions are called ANIONS while the positively charged ions are called CATIONS.

These cations (+ ions) and anions (- ions) make up ionic compounds in such a way that they give the ionic compound a net charge of ZERO. This is because the charges of the opposite ions that make up the ionic conpound are equal. For example, in the ionic compound CaCl2;

Ca is a cation with charge +2

Cl is an anion with charge -1, 2 atoms make a net charge of -2

When these two ions combine, they cancel out each other to form an ionic compound, CaCl2, with net charge 0 or neutral