What is the difference between atoms and ions?
916474
An atom has equal numbers of protons (+ charged) and electrons (- charged) making them neutral. \n\nAn ion has either gained or lost electrons (only those in its' outer shell [valence]) giving them a + or a - charge. \n\nGet an "A".
515612
Atoms do not have a charge.\nIons have a charge (either plus or minus)
536511
If you mean atomic radius, the atoms.  The ions will most likely have shed their outer electrons to form the ion, such as Ca +2, while the atoms keep that outer shell, which increases the radius.\n\ndkrgrand:  That's the whole point.  The size of Ca (the metal) is bigger than the size of Ca+2 (the ion) because of the missing shell.  This is what was asked.
793635
Ionic. The ions are Na+ and HSO4-, and the HSO4- ion is partly ionized into H+ and SO4=.
785386
Because the number of protons is different from the number of electrons.\n\nFor example, the uranyl ion has a total of one hundred eight protons and one hundred six electrons.
371324
Negatively charged ion has one/some extra electrons than the corresponding neutral atom. so, deu to repulsion they stay more apart.\n\nthat is what i think is the reason why -ve ions have greater radious than neutral atom.
634552
an ion with both acidic and basic part
298345
The Sodium (Na) atom is much larger by comparison to the Chlorine (Cl) atom.\nThe periodic trend of atomic radii gets smaller as you move accross a row.  Since Sodium is at the start of the row and Chlorine at the end, Sodium is larger.\nThis has to due to with the largest shell holding electrons, both Na and Cl's largest shell is the 2S orbital, but since Chlorine has many more protons in its nucleus, those electrons are held more closely than those of Sodium.\n\nOn the other hand, when an atom becomes an ion, it either gains or looses an electron (protons dont change).  When Sodium becomes an ion, it looses 1 electron to become Na+ and because of this, it looses the electron in its outer shell which is making it so big (ion is smaller than the atom).\nWhen Chlorine becomes an ion, it gains an electron which goes into completing its Octet and the ion is larger than the atom.\nWhen all is said and done, the Chloride ion (Cl-) is much larger than the Sodium ion (Na+).
412159
Elements differ primarily by number of protons.  An atom containing one proton, for example, is always called hydrogen.  Protons are contained in the nucleus along with neutrons.  Electrons "orbit" the nucleus  ("orbiting" isn't a correct way to describe the electron quantum mechanical sense, but it's more-or-less helpful to think of it this way).  Protons have a positive charge, electrons a negative charge and neutrons a neutral one.\n\nElements may also vary within themselves.  Some forms of elements have more neutrons than others.  These are called isotopes of each other and have different masses.  They're referenced by their mass numbers such as "Carbon-14" or "Carbon-12".  Here Carbon-14 has two "atomic mass units" (amu) more mass than carbon 12.  Each proton and each neutron contributes one amu to the mass so carbon 1-4 has two more neutrons than carbon-12.\n\nElements may also vary by electronic species.  When neutrally charged, the same number of electrons "orbit" the nucleus as there are protons in the nucleus.  Sometimes atoms either gain or lose some electrons to become negatively or positively chaged overall (as opposed to neutral where the positive proton charges cancel exactly the negative electron charges).  These are called "ionic species" or simply "ions".
759104
what is the atom made of and explain how they work?
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A neutral atom is redundant. The atom is neutral by nature. When the atom gets a positive charge then becomes a cation and when it gets a negative charge, becomes an anion.\nin the atom, the positive charges (protons) and the negative charges (electrons) are balanced.
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Basic Atomic Structure\n\nThe definitions of atoms and elements seems, at first glance, almost circular: an element is a substance made up of only one kind of atom, and an atom is the smallest particle of an element that retains all the chemical and physical properties of the element. In fact, these two definitions do not form a closed loop, as they would if it were stated that an element is something made up of atoms. Every item of matter that exists, except for the subatomic particles discussed in this essay, is made up of atoms. An element, on the other hand, is—as stated in its definition—made up of only one kind of atom. "Kind of atom" in this context refers to the number of protons in its nucleus.\n\nProtons are one of three basic subatomic particles, the other two being electrons and neutrons. As we shall see, there appear to be particles even smaller than these, but before approaching these "sub-subatomic" particles, it is necessary to address the three most significant components of an atom. These are distinguished from one another in terms of electric charge: protons are positively charged, electrons are negative in charge, and neutrons have no electrical charge. As with the north and south poles of magnets, positive and negative charges attract one another, whereas like charges repel. Atoms have no net charge, meaning that the protons and electrons cancel out one another.
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The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons the element has in the nucleus of one atom.\nThe number of protons in the nucleus determine what element it is.\n\nThe atomic mass of an element is equal to the sum of number of protons and the number of neutrons in the nucleus.  The electrons around the atom are neglected since their mass is negligible, as well as the fact that atoms can form ions by gaining and/or loosing electrons even though the element is the same.
1075073
well it depends, but generally they don't stay that way for long. They react with other atoms that are charged opposite of whatever they are. This is how chemical bonds are formed. It can either be a covalent bond in which they atoms are "sharing" electrons in order for both to be neutrally charged or they form an Ionic bond.
909821
Although atoms contain both positively and negatively charged particles, they contain the charges in equal portions. That is, an atom has the same number of electrons (negatively charged) and protons (positively charged), so the charges cancel each other out. \n\n\nHowever, an atom can gain or lose electrons resulting in a charged atom known as an ion.
798559
positive ions are formed by removing electrons from the atoms and hence the ionic radius for positive ion is always less than that of atomic radius
917329
Realllllll Simply:\n\nCovalent molecules (atoms that make up the molecule) each contribute enough electrons (which are shared) to each other so that each atom thinks is has the nearest Noble Gas configuration. \n\nIonic molecules (the atoms that make up the molecule) transfer the electrons. One atom gains them and one atom loses them. Thus the atoms become ions (as in ionic bond), so they have charges.\n\nGet an "A".