To determine the charge of an oxygen ion with 8 protons and 6 electrons, we need to consider the concept of atomic number and the electron configuration.
The atomic number of an element corresponds to the number of protons in its nucleus, which in the case of oxygen is 8. This means a neutral oxygen atom would have an equal number of electrons, resulting in a net charge of 0.
However, if the oxygen atom gains or loses electrons, it becomes an ion. In this case, since the oxygen ion has 6 electrons instead of the usual 8, we can deduce that it has a positive charge. Specifically, it has a charge of +2 since the number of protons (8) exceeds the number of electrons (6) by 2.
Now, to calculate the charge in coulombs, we need to know the elementary charge. The elementary charge (e) is a fundamental physical constant equal to approximately 1.602 x 10^-19 coulombs.
To calculate the charge in coulombs, we multiply the number of elementary charges in the ion by the elementary charge:
Charge (in coulombs) = Charge (in elementary charges) * Elementary charge
In this case, the charge of the oxygen ion is +2. So,
Charge (in coulombs) = +2 * (1.602 x 10^-19 C)
When we calculate this, we find that the charge of the oxygen ion is approximately +3.204 x 10^-19 coulombs.