A metal becomes a cation (postively-charged ion) after ionic bonding in a salt.
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The element that forms the cation (positive ion) comes first in the formula for an ionic compound.
A single element cation and single element anion form a binary ionic compound, where one element is a metal and the other is a nonmetal. The metal forms the cation by losing electrons, while the nonmetal forms the anion by gaining electrons. Examples include NaCl (sodium chloride) and KBr (potassium bromide).
HgBr is an ionic compound. Mercury (Hg) is a metal element that forms cations, while bromine (Br) is a non-metal element that forms anions. In an ionic compound like HgBr, the metal cation is positively charged and the non-metal anion is negatively charged, leading to electrostatic attraction between them.
When a metal and nonmetal element form an ionic compound, it is a transfer of electrons from the metal (which loses electrons to become a cation) to the nonmetal (which gains electrons to become an anion). This forms an ionic bond between the cation and anion, resulting in the formation of an ionic compound.
The charge on the cation in FeSO4 is +2, as iron (Fe) typically forms a 2+ cation in ionic compounds.