Argon does not have a common simple ionic charge in introductory chemistry.
| Element | Argon |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Ar |
| Atomic number | 18 |
| Common ionic charge | none listed |
| Common ions | none listed |
Images are used as visual references; charge rules still depend on the compound.
A filled octet in period 3 leaves argon with no low-energy way to gain, lose, or share electrons. Its first ionization energy (1,521 kJ/mol) towers above its neighbors chlorine and potassium, both of which react eagerly precisely because they are one electron away from argon's arrangement.
No common simple ion is listed; verify advanced oxidation-state chemistry with a primary reference.
Assuming 'argon is 1% of air, so it must be doing something.' It isn't — every breath you take carries argon in and out unchanged. Its abundance comes from radioactive potassium-40 decaying to argon-40 in rocks over billions of years.
Both ions hold exactly 18 electrons in argon's configuration. Potassium got there by losing one electron, chloride by gaining one — argon is the stability target on both sides.
One: HArF, argon fluorohydride, detected in 2000 at temperatures below -246 °C. It falls apart above that. For chemistry class purposes, argon forms nothing.
Hot metals will even react with N2, forming brittle nitrides. Argon has no such option — no charge states, no compounds — making it the safer blanket for molten metal.
Momentarily, yes — electric fields can knock electrons off any atom, making Ar+ that glows lilac. That is physics-grade ionization, gone in microseconds, not chemical bonding.
Combine positive and negative ions so the total charge is zero — or let the ionic compound calculator do the crossing for you. The full chart lives on the periodic table with charges.
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