Question

Describe the formation of an ion from a metal and a nonmetal in terms of the octect rule.

Elements classified as metals tend to lose electrons. Except for hydrogen, all other metallic elements lose their outside electrons so that the next inner shell is complete, often with an octet(elements 3 & 4 lose their outside electrons to leave the next inner shell full but that shell (n = 1) is full with only two electrons). For non-metals, the tendency is to gain electrons to make the outside shell an octet. Repost if this isn't clear.