Question

An atom of aluminum loses three electrons due ionic bonding. What is the charge of the aluminum ion?

Answer 1

When an atom of aluminum (which has the atomic number 13) loses three electrons, it loses a total of three negatively charged particles. Since each electron has a charge of -1, losing three electrons results in a positive charge. Therefore, the charge of the aluminum ion after losing three electrons is +3.

The aluminum ion is represented as \( \text{Al}^{3+} \).