[tommyq]

I have SEVERAL of questions just like this. I've done two, and they got marked wrong. Here's the question...

From your knowledge about the distribution of electrons in the levels and from the atomic number (in parentheses), indicate the most likely charge on the ion when this atom forms an ion (Remember the 2, 8, 18 level distribution).

Oxygen (

[lucas89]

For oxygen to have a full p-shell of electrons, it'd need 6 electrons in that orbital (8 electrons in total). Based on where oxygen is on the periodic table however, it's two elements away from Neon (which has a full valance shell of 8 electrons). Since oxygen has two electrons less than Neon in it's shell, oxygen will form a 2- ion. This logic works for most s and p block elements. Try it for Nitrogen, and see what you get