Question #531fb

1 Answer
Jun 8, 2014

It has ten.

www.bbc.co.uk

An oxygen atom has 2 electrons in the n=1 shell and 6 electrons in the n=2 shell. When oxygen forms an ion, it gains two electrons, competing the outer shell.

The ion should be called an oxide ion - non-metals change their name endings to -IDE when they form negatively-charged ions.