How many protons, and electrons are in NH4+?

2 Answers
anor277
Mar 4, 2018

Well you got four hydrogens, and one nitrogen....

Explanation:

So that is four electrons, plus seven electrons...and we subtract ONE of these electronic charges to account for the positive charge...and so there are 10 electrons....BUT 11 nucular protons, and thus ammonium ion has A FORMAL positive charge....and our representation of #NH_4^+# is reasonable with the positive charge residing on the quaternized nitrogen.

Can you do the same thing for neutral ammonia? Here the nitrogen claims BOTH of the lone pair electrons, instead of HALF of the electrons in each #N-H# bond....

Nam D.
Mar 4, 2018

#11# protons and #10# electrons

Explanation:

In an ammonium ion #(NH_4^+)# ion, there is one nitrogen atom and four hydrogen atoms. Nitrogen has an atomic number of #7#, and hydrogen has an atomic number of #1#, and so the total atomic number of the hydrogens will be #1*4=4#.

So, there will be a total of #7+4=11# protons.

This ion has a charge of #+1#, meaning that there is one more proton than the amount of electrons.

Let #x# be the number of electrons.

We have:

#x+1=11#

#x=11-1#

#x=10#

So, there will be #10# electrons in an ammonium ion.

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