Show diagramatically the electron distributions in a sodium atom and a sodium ion and also give their atomic number.
Since the atomic number of sodium atom is 11, it has 11 electrons. A positively charged sodium ion (Na+) is formed by the removal of one electron from a sodium atom. So, a sodium ion has 11–1 = 10 electrons in it. Thus, electronic distribution of sodium ion will be 2, 8. The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons in its atom. Since, sodium atom and sodium ion contain the same number of protons, therefore, the atomic number of both is 11.
