What causes an atom to have a positive charge?

Answer 1

Atoms consist of three subatomic Particles (Nuetrons, Protons, and electrons) when an atom looses an electron which is negatively charged it makes that atom positive, when an atom looses a Proton it makes it negative since that proton had a postive charge it is no longer balanced between negative and postive subatomic particles

Answer 2

The charge on an ion is determined by the ratio of protons to electrons. If there are more protons than electrons, then the ion charge will be positive, and vice versa.

Example: Cl-

Cl, in its ground state(neutral), has 7 protons(will never change) and 7 electrons. When an extra electron is added to Cl(to complete its octet) there are now 7 protons and 8 electrons. The charge on Cl is now -1.

Answer 3

Number of electrons, in relation to how many it had at the start.

For example, if you had an element of Carbon (C), which has 6 electons and 6 protons, it has an overall charge of 0.

If you knock off an electron, it has 6 protons and 5 electons, so it has an overall charge of +1. This is called Carbon 1+

If it gains an extra electron, so it has 7 electrons and 6 protons, you get Carbon 1-

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

If an atom loses one or more electrons, it will have a positive charge. If the number of electrons is the same as the number of protons, have will have zero charge.

Answer2: An atom has a positive charge if there are more protons than electrons.

Answer 5

An atom's charge is neutral when it has the same number of positive charges (protons) and negative charges (electrons). When an atom loses an electron (oxidation) it becomes a positive ion.

Answer 6

The loss of an negatively charged electron.