For the metal elements, whats the connection between the ion charge and the # of electrons in the outershell?

I wrote:

The ion charge is positive for all metal elements and the electron # increases.

please add any other info, thanks

The atom is trying to achieve stability with 8 electrons in its outer shell. Basically it would like to look like its closest Noble gas. Metals tend to lose electrons to go back to the Noble gas configuration before it making the protons outnumber the electrons giving them a positive charge. Non-metals tend to gain electrons to look like the Noble gas ahead of them giving them a negative charge. So, 8 electrons in the outer shell is the goal.

Thank you very much:-)

To obtain a positive charge on the metal ion (which you have correct) doesn't the number of electrons DECREASE? by the number of + charges?

Na has 11p, 11 e.
Na^+ (+1 ion) has 11p, 10e
The + charge went up (from zero to +1), the number of electrons went down (from 11 to 10 = 1 = positive charge)

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me about that DrBob222, I had totally forgotten. I was thinking oppositely.

The connection between the ion charge and the number of electrons in the outer shell of metal elements can be explained by the concept of electron configuration and the octet rule.

Most metal elements, such as alkali metals and alkaline earth metals, tend to lose electrons during chemical reactions to achieve a stable electron configuration. This stable configuration is usually achieved by adopting the electron configuration of the nearest noble gas, which typically has a full outer shell of electrons.

For example, let's take sodium (Na), which is a metal element with atomic number 11. Sodium has a configuration of 2-8-1, meaning it has two electrons in the first shell, eight electrons in the second shell, and one electron in the outermost third shell. In order to achieve a stable electron configuration, sodium will lose its outermost electron and form a sodium ion (Na+). The resulting sodium ion now has an electron configuration of 2-8, which is the same as that of neon (the nearest noble gas), and thus it has a full outer shell. In this case, sodium loses 1 electron, leading to a positive ion charge of +1.

Similarly, other metal elements will lose electrons from their outer shells to achieve a full outer shell and a stable electron configuration. The number of electrons lost corresponds to the ion charge, which is typically positive. So when you say that the ion charge is positive for all metal elements, you are correct.

Therefore, the statement that "the electron number increases" is not entirely accurate for metal elements. Instead, the metal ions tend to have a lower number of electrons compared to their neutral atom counterparts, as they lose electrons from their outer shells.