Question

If the formula for a compound is represented by XY2 and the charge on the Y ion is -2, what is the charge in the X ion?

+1

+2

+3

+4

Answer 1

if each Y is -2, that makes how much total negative charge? If there's only 1 X ion in the formula, that X ion has to "balance" the total negative charge

Answer 2

so would it be +2 if it has to balance?

Answer 3

or is that not correct?

Answer 4

EACH ion of Y has a -2 charge. There are 2 ions of Y-2. That makes the total negative charge -4.

Answer 5

How would i balance it the negative charge then?

Answer 6

the positive X ion has to balance all the negative charge from the Y ions. There's only 1 X ion in the formula. That 1 ion has to balance all the -4 charge from the Y-2 ions.

Answer 7

so what about +4?

Answer 8

The answer is +4. You have 2 Y, this means you have -4. You need the total charge to be 0. Therefore, a charge of +4 on the X is required to give XY2 a total charge of 0.