How many ionic protons are in calcium?

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 4, 2017

There ain't no such beast as an #"ionic proton......"#

Explanation:

The calcium atom contains #"20 nuclear protons"#; i.e. each calcium nucleus contains 20 massive, positively charged particles, i.e. #"protons"#, along with 20 or so massive, neutrally charged particles, i.e. #"neutrons"#. The #"20 nuclear protons"# are what defines the material as calcium. Because the metal is electrically neutral, calcium metal contains 20 negatively charged particles of negligible mass that are conceived to orbit the nucleus, and what do we call these beasts? The metal tends to lose 2 of these particles to form the #Ca^(2+)# ion.

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