Question #78b52

1 Answer
Ahmed Elnaiem
Mar 5, 2015

First we note that Mg^(2+) is a magnesium ion. An ion is an atom that has a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons.

In the case of Mg^(2+) there is a positive charge of 2, meaning that this ion has 2 fewer electrons than its parent atom Mg. This also means the remaining electrons in the ion have an even stronger attraction to the protons, pulling them closer to the center of the atom and making the overall atomic radius of the Mg^(2+) ion smaller than the parent atom.

Related questions
See all questions in Periodic Trends in Ionic Size
Impact of this question
3787 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License