Question

Magnesium and Iodine will combine to make a compound.


Mg_I_



Fill in the blanks with the number of the subscript

I NEED HELP ASAP. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO FIND THE SUBSCRIPT?!

Answer 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_iodide

Answer 2

Always look at the charges. What is the charge of Mg and I in its ion state?

Answer 3

Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal, 2nd column of the periodic table from the left, so it has 2 electrons it wants to give away to get back to having the outer shell complete. Therefore, it needs to hook up with enough iodine atoms to take up those 2 electrons. Iodine is over on the right hand side of the periodic table, so it wants to grab enough electrons to make its outer shell complete. If it is in the right-most column (it isn't), that outer shell is already complete. If it is one column in, like chlorine or fluorine, it only needs 1 electron (so you would need 2 atoms to use up the 2 electrons every magnesium atom wants to give away). If it is two columns in, like oxygen, it needs 2 electrons, and you would have a 1:1 pairing of magnesium and iodine. If it is three columns in, then you'll need a 3:2 pairing (6 electrons from the 3 magnesium atoms, taken up 3 at a time by the 2 iodine atoms), etc.