Question

One chlorine (Cl) atom combines with one sodium (Na) atom. How many potassium (K) atoms combines with a chlorine atom?

Answer 1

Only the 1 potassium atom! Look at the position of potassium compared to sodium in the Periodic Table

Explanation:

`"Sodium chloride, potassium chloride, rubidium chloride,"` `"caesium chloride,"` all have a formula of `MCl`, where `M` is the alkali metal. All the alkali metals have similar electronic configurations; thus they have the same type of interaction with the chloride ion, i.e. `Cl^-` (and the same interaction with all of the halogens).