What kind of a charge does an object that has an excess of electrons have?

1 Answer
Apr 24, 2018

Negative

Explanation:

Remember than electrons carry negative charge, and so if there is an EXCESS of electrons, there'll be more electrons in the object than the number of protons, and so the object will carry a negative charge. On an atomic scale, those are called "ions", and negatively-charged ions are called anions.

Common anions include phosphate #(PO_4^(3-))#, nitrate #(NO_3^(-))#, and chloride #(Cl^-)#.