What in the world is protons and electrons?

Protons have a charge of +1 and electrons have a charge of -1 The total charge on an ion is the sum of its electron and proton charges. An ion of calcium has 20 protons and 18 electrons. Whats its charge,
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I can't believe it@ my mom is making me do this and i dont know anything. please help me.

Answer:
+2
That particular question can be done with simple arithmetic.
20 positive charges
added to
18 negative charges is the same as
20 - 18

Your total charge, using the given parms, is +2
CALCIUM ION:
20 Protons = 20+
18 Electrons = 18-
20-18=2
the charge on that calcium ion is +2
(For future reference, subtract the total number of electrons from protons to get the charge)
just think of it as adding and subtracting charges, a proton is a small particle in an atom that counts as +1 and an electron is a small particle in an atom that counts as -1.

so calcium with 20protons and 18 electrons is
+20 and -18, the net result is +2 charge since there are 2 more positives than negatives. you can call this a sum because you start at zero, add 20 then subtract 18 and your result is +2

If there were more electrons than protons you would end up with a negative number for the charge.
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Protons, neutrons, and electrons are tiny particles that make an atom. Protons and neutrons stick together in a bunch called a nucleus, and electrons whizz around the nucleus in circles.

The part that confuses you is that protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge, and neutrons have no charge. So if you add up 20 positive charges, you get +20. If you add up 18 negative charges, you get -18. Now, add +20 and -18, and you get ... +2. :) That means that, even though this atom has a bunch of different particles that have different charges, OVERALL the atom has a positive charge because there are more positive pieces than negative pieces.

I hope this helps! :)

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