Collisions: Ionic Bonding Key Vocabulary

By playing Collisions, students will learn about and apply key concepts related to ionic bonding. Review these key terms with students in preparation to play.

Ion: an atom or group of atoms that has a positive or negative electric charge as a result of having lost or gained one or more electrons

Cation: a positively charged ion

Anion: a negatively charged ion

Ionic Bond: a chemical bond that results due to the attraction between oppositely charged ions

Ionic Compound: a chemical compound composed of ions. The compound is neutral overall, but consists of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions

Chemical Formula: a set of chemical symbols showing the elements found in a compound and their relative proportions

Lewis Structure: diagrams that show the bonding between atoms of a molecule and the valence electrons that may exist around each atom or ion

Formula Mass: the sum of the atomic weights of the atoms or ions in the empirical formula of the compound