Creating Ionic Compounds

Ionic bonding, the bonding that holds the cations and anions together, is one of the two major types of bonding in chemistry.

An ionic bond occurs between a metal and a nonmetal. The metal loses electrons (to becomes a positively charged cation), and a nonmetal gains those electrons (to become a negatively charged anion). The ions have opposite charges, so they’re attracted to each other. This attraction draws them together into a compound.