Cations are positive ions that are formed by losing electrons. Because the number of electrons does not equal the number of protons, each ion has a net charge. This fills their outermost electron shell and makes them energetically more stable. Chloride ion is attracted to positively charged electrodes or other positively charged chemical species, but chlorine does not.Some atoms are more stable when they gain or lose an electron (or possibly two) and form ions.Chloride has achieved the Argon electron configuration, therefore, stable than the chlorine atom.

Chlorine is more chemically reactive than chloride because it is more unstable.

This causes an increase in ionic radius for chloride than the chlorine atomic radius.

With additional electron in the outer shell, chloride ion tends to expand due to the electron repulsion between each other. Since there is an additional electron in the chloride ion than the atom, the ionic radius differs from the atomic radius of chlorine.Therefore, chloride has a negative (-1) charge whereas chlorine is neutral. Chloride has 18 electrons compared to seventeen electrons of chlorine, and both have seventeen protons. Chloride ion is the reduced form of chlorine atom.What is the difference between Chlorine Atom and Chloride Ion? Chloride ions can participate in conducting electricity through solvents. There is a considerable amount of chloride ions in sea water. Chloride also exists naturally in water sources, and this is the most common anion in the nature. Chloride exists in ionic compounds such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride and HCl, which are ionic. The electron configuration of chloride is 1 s 2 2 s 2 2 p 6 3s 2 3p 6. Therefore, it has 18 electrons and seventeen protons. Chloride is a monovalent ion with -1 charge. Chloride is represented by the symbol Cl –. Chlorine has all the oxidation numbers varying from -1 to +7.Ĭhloride is the resulted anion when chlorine abstracts an electron from another electropositive element. When chlorine gas is dissolved in water, it forms hydrochloric acid and hypochlorous acid, which are highly acidic. In the atmosphere, 35Cl present in 75.77% and 37Cl present in 24.23%. Among all the chlorine isotopes, Cl-35 and Cl-37 are the most stable isotopes. Chlorine has a melting point of -101.5 ☌ and a boiling point of -34.04 ☌. Under room temperature, chlorine exists as a diatomic molecule (Cl 2). The atomic weight of chlorine is 35.453 amu. Chlorine has a very high electro negativity, which is about 3, according to the Pauling scale. Since the p sub level should have 6 electrons to obtain the Argon noble gas electron configuration, chlorine has the ability to attract an electron. Its electron configuration is written as 1 s 2 2 s 2 2 p 6 3s 2 3p 5. The atomic number of chlorine is 17 thus, it has seventeen protons and seventeen electrons. It is a halogen (17 th group) in the 3 rd period of the periodic table. Except some similarities, Chlorine and chloride has different physical and chemical properties due to the change of one electron.Ĭhlorine is an element in the periodic table which is denoted by Cl. All metals react with chlorine, forming chlorides. Likewise, chlorine also has to get an electron to achieve the electron configuration of the noble gas, Argon. Therefore, elements try to react with other elements, to gain the noble gas electron configuration to achieve stability. The elements in the periodic table are not stable except the noble gases.

Cl charge element