chemcheat

Periodic table with charges

The charge each element takes when it forms an ion. Switch the table to valence electrons or Lewis dot symbols; click any element for its full page.

1 H +1 −1 1 Hydrogen Lewis dot symbolH 2 He 0 2 Helium Lewis dot symbolHe 3 Li +1 1 Lithium Lewis dot symbolLi 4 Be +2 2 Beryllium Lewis dot symbolBe 5 B +3 3 Boron Lewis dot symbolB 6 C +4 −4 4 Carbon Lewis dot symbolC 7 N −3 5 Nitrogen Lewis dot symbolN 8 O −2 6 Oxygen Lewis dot symbolO 9 F −1 7 Fluorine Lewis dot symbolF 10 Ne 0 8 Neon Lewis dot symbolNe 11 Na +1 1 Sodium Lewis dot symbolNa 12 Mg +2 2 Magnesium Lewis dot symbolMg 13 Al +3 3 Aluminium Lewis dot symbolAl 14 Si +4 4 Silicon Lewis dot symbolSi 15 P −3 5 Phosphorus Lewis dot symbolP 16 S −2 6 Sulfur Lewis dot symbolS 17 Cl −1 7 Chlorine Lewis dot symbolCl 18 Ar 0 8 Argon Lewis dot symbolAr 19 K +1 1 Potassium Lewis dot symbolK 20 Ca +2 2 Calcium Lewis dot symbolCa 21 Sc +3 2/3 Sc 22 Ti +4 +3 2/4 Ti 23 V +5 +4 2/5 V 24 Cr +3 +6 1/6 Cr 25 Mn +2 +4 2/7 Mn 26 Fe +3 +2 2/8 Fe 27 Co +2 +3 2/9 Co 28 Ni +2 2/10 Ni 29 Cu +2 +1 1/11 Cu 30 Zn +2 2/12 Zn 31 Ga +3 3 Gallium Lewis dot symbolGa 32 Ge +4 4 Germanium Lewis dot symbolGe 33 As −3 +3 5 Arsenic Lewis dot symbolAs 34 Se −2 +4 6 Selenium Lewis dot symbolSe 35 Br −1 7 Bromine Lewis dot symbolBr 36 Kr 0 8 Krypton Lewis dot symbolKr 37 Rb +1 1 Rubidium Lewis dot symbolRb 38 Sr +2 2 Strontium Lewis dot symbolSr 39 Y +3 2/3 Y 40 Zr +4 2/4 Zr 41 Nb +5 1/5 Nb 42 Mo +6 +4 1/6 Mo 43 Tc +7 2/7 Tc 44 Ru +3 +4 1/8 Ru 45 Rh +3 1/9 Rh 46 Pd +2 +4 8/18 Pd 47 Ag +1 1/11 Ag 48 Cd +2 2/12 Cd 49 In +3 +1 3 Indium Lewis dot symbolIn 50 Sn +2 +4 4 Tin Lewis dot symbolSn 51 Sb +3 +5 5 Antimony Lewis dot symbolSb 52 Te −2 +4 6 Tellurium Lewis dot symbolTe 53 I −1 7 Iodine Lewis dot symbolI 54 Xe 0 8 Xenon Lewis dot symbolXe 55 Cs +1 1 Caesium Lewis dot symbolCs 56 Ba +2 2 Barium Lewis dot symbolBa 57 La +3 2/3 La 58 Ce +3 +4 2/3 Ce 59 Pr +3 2/2 Pr 60 Nd +3 2/2 Nd 61 Pm +3 2/2 Pm 62 Sm +3 +2 2/2 Sm 63 Eu +3 +2 2/2 Eu 64 Gd +3 2/3 Gd 65 Tb +3 2/2 Tb 66 Dy +3 2/2 Dy 67 Ho +3 2/2 Ho 68 Er +3 2/2 Er 69 Tm +3 2/2 Tm 70 Yb +3 +2 2/2 Yb 71 Lu +3 2/3 Lu 72 Hf +4 2/4 Hf 73 Ta +5 2/5 Ta 74 W +6 +4 2/6 W 75 Re +7 +4 2/7 Re 76 Os +4 2/8 Os 77 Ir +4 +3 2/9 Ir 78 Pt +4 +2 1/10 Pt 79 Au +3 +1 1/11 Au 80 Hg +2 +1 2/12 Hg 81 Tl +1 +3 3 Thallium Lewis dot symbolTl 82 Pb +2 +4 4 Lead Lewis dot symbolPb 83 Bi +3 5 Bismuth Lewis dot symbolBi 84 Po +4 +2 6 Polonium Lewis dot symbolPo 85 At −1 7 Astatine Lewis dot symbolAt 86 Rn 0 8 Radon Lewis dot symbolRn 87 Fr +1 1 Francium Lewis dot symbolFr 88 Ra +2 2 Radium Lewis dot symbolRa 89 Ac +3 2/3 Ac 90 Th +4 2/4 Th 91 Pa +5 +4 2/3 Pa 92 U +6 +4 2/3 U 93 Np +5 +4 2/3 Np 94 Pu +4 +3 2/2 Pu 95 Am +3 2/2 Am 96 Cm +3 2/3 Cm 97 Bk +3 +4 2/2 Bk 98 Cf +3 2/2 Cf 99 Es +3 2/2 Es 100 Fm +3 2/2 Fm 101 Md +3 +2 2/2 Md 102 No +2 +3 2/2 No 103 Lr +3 3/3 Lr 104 Rf — 2/4 Rf 105 Db — 2/5 Db 106 Sg — 2/6 Sg 107 Bh — 2/7 Bh 108 Hs — 2/8 Hs 109 Mt — 2/9 Mt 110 Ds — 2/10 Ds 111 Rg — 2/11 Rg 112 Cn — 2/12 Cn 113 Nh — 3 Nihonium Lewis dot symbolNh 114 Fl — 4 Flerovium Lewis dot symbolFl 115 Mc — 5 Moscovium Lewis dot symbolMc 116 Lv — 6 Livermorium Lewis dot symbolLv 117 Ts — 7 Tennessine Lewis dot symbolTs 118 Og — 8 Oganesson Lewis dot symbolOg

An atom forms an ion by taking the shortest route to a full outer shell. An element with one or two valence electrons loses them; one that is one or two short gains instead. That is why group 1 is always +1, group 2 is +2, group 16 is −2 and group 17 is −1 - the charge is the group position, read as a distance from a full shell. The transition metals sit in the middle with several routes open to them, which is why they have more than one charge each.

Main-group charges

These follow from the group number alone. Lose the valence electrons, or gain enough to finish the octet, whichever is fewer.

ElementGroupValence e−Short of octetCharge
H Hydrogen 1 1 7 +1, -1
He Helium 18 2 6 none
Li Lithium 1 1 7 +1
Be Beryllium 2 2 6 +2
B Boron 13 3 5 +3
C Carbon 14 4 4 +4, -4
N Nitrogen 15 5 3 -3
O Oxygen 16 6 2 -2
F Fluorine 17 7 1 -1
Ne Neon 18 8 full none
Na Sodium 1 1 7 +1
Mg Magnesium 2 2 6 +2
Al Aluminium 13 3 5 +3
Si Silicon 14 4 4 +4
P Phosphorus 15 5 3 -3
S Sulfur 16 6 2 -2
Cl Chlorine 17 7 1 -1
Ar Argon 18 8 full none
K Potassium 1 1 7 +1
Ca Calcium 2 2 6 +2
Ga Gallium 13 3 5 +3
Ge Germanium 14 4 4 +4
As Arsenic 15 5 3 -3, +3, +5
Se Selenium 16 6 2 -2, +4, +6
Br Bromine 17 7 1 -1
Kr Krypton 18 8 full none
Rb Rubidium 1 1 7 +1
Sr Strontium 2 2 6 +2
In Indium 13 3 5 +3, +1
Sn Tin 14 4 4 +2, +4
Sb Antimony 15 5 3 +3, +5
Te Tellurium 16 6 2 -2, +4, +6
I Iodine 17 7 1 -1
Xe Xenon 18 8 full none
Cs Caesium 1 1 7 +1
Ba Barium 2 2 6 +2
Tl Thallium 13 3 5 +1, +3
Pb Lead 14 4 4 +2, +4
Bi Bismuth 15 5 3 +3
Po Polonium 16 6 2 +4, +2
At Astatine 17 7 1 -1
Rn Radon 18 8 full none
Fr Francium 1 1 7 +1
Ra Radium 2 2 6 +2
Nh Nihonium 13 3 5 none
Fl Flerovium 14 4 4 none
Mc Moscovium 15 5 3 none
Lv Livermorium 16 6 2 none
Ts Tennessine 17 7 1 none
Og Oganesson 18 8 full none

Transition metal charges

These are not derivable from the group. A transition metal can give up electrons from both its outer s subshell and the d subshell underneath, and several of those states are stable enough to be common, so each one is listed rather than calculated. The first charge shown is the one you meet most often.

ElementGroupCommon chargesMost common
Sc Scandium 3 +3 +3
Ti Titanium 4 +4, +3 +4
V Vanadium 5 +5, +4, +3, +2 +5
Cr Chromium 6 +3, +6, +2 +3
Mn Manganese 7 +2, +4, +7 +2
Fe Iron 8 +3, +2 +3
Co Cobalt 9 +2, +3 +2
Ni Nickel 10 +2 +2
Cu Copper 11 +2, +1 +2
Zn Zinc 12 +2 +2
Y Yttrium 3 +3 +3
Zr Zirconium 4 +4 +4
Nb Niobium 5 +5 +5
Mo Molybdenum 6 +6, +4 +6
Tc Technetium 7 +7 +7
Ru Ruthenium 8 +3, +4 +3
Rh Rhodium 9 +3 +3
Pd Palladium 10 +2, +4 +2
Ag Silver 11 +1 +1
Cd Cadmium 12 +2 +2
Hf Hafnium 4 +4 +4
Ta Tantalum 5 +5 +5
W Tungsten 6 +6, +4 +6
Re Rhenium 7 +7, +4 +7
Os Osmium 8 +4 +4
Ir Iridium 9 +4, +3 +4
Pt Platinum 10 +4, +2 +4
Au Gold 11 +3, +1 +3
Hg Mercury 12 +2, +1 +2
Rf Rutherfordium 4 none —
Db Dubnium 5 none —
Sg Seaborgium 6 none —
Bh Bohrium 7 none —
Hs Hassium 8 none —
Mt Meitnerium 9 none —
Ds Darmstadtium 10 none —
Rg Roentgenium 11 none —
Cn Copernicium 12 none —

How to read a charge off the table

  1. Find the group

    Count the columns. Group 1 is the far left, group 18 the far right.

  2. Get the valence electrons

    Groups 1 and 2 have that many. Groups 13 to 18 have the group number minus 10.

  3. Take the shorter route

    Fewer than four valence electrons, and losing them is shorter, so the charge is positive and equal to the count. More than four, and gaining is shorter, so the charge is negative and equal to eight minus the count.

  4. Check group 18

    A full outer shell has no shorter route, so the noble gases form no ions.

Printable periodic table with charges

The same table as an image, sized for a printed page or a slide. Free to use in class; a link back is appreciated.

Periodic table with the common ion charge of every element, colour-coded by ion type

Download the PNG (1800 × 1060) →

Every element in detail →