Can someone please help me with these?
How many electrons would Nitrogen, Aluminum, and Bromine gain or lose?
Look at the periodic table and find N, Al, and Br.
You should find N in group VA (or 15 depending on the system being used), Al in IIIA (or 13), and Br in VIIA (or 17). I will show you in detail how to do a couple.
Al is in group IIIA so it has 3 electrons in its outer shell. That means it will lose those 3 (or gain 5 but losing 3 is much easier, wouldn't you think?). If it loses those 3 electrons it will form the Al^+3 ion.
Br is in group VIIA. It has 7 electrons in its outer shell. (Note Al is in IIIA or 13 and had 3. Br is in VIIA or 17 and has 7---do you see how just by looking at the periodic table you can tell how many electrons are in the outer shell?). So Br would be expected to lose 7 or gain 1. Of course, gaining 1 is the easier and it does that to become a Br^-1 ion.
N is in group VA or 15. How many electrons are in the outer shell? So how many electrons can it gain or lose? Actually, it can do both.
Oh, okay, thanks for the great explanation. I understand now.
You're welcome! I'm glad the explanation was helpful. Now, let's find out how many electrons Nitrogen can gain or lose.
As mentioned earlier, Nitrogen is in group VA (or 15). It has 5 electrons in its outer shell. Based on the periodic table, we can determine that Nitrogen can either gain 3 electrons to have a full outer shell or lose 5 electrons to completely empty its outer shell.
Gaining 3 electrons would result in Nitrogen forming an N^-3 ion, while losing 5 electrons would give Nitrogen the N^+5 ion.
Remember, when an atom loses or gains electrons, it forms an ion, which is a charged particle. Hope this helps!