This document summarizes key concepts about ions and ionic compounds from a chemistry chapter:
1) Atoms form ions by gaining or losing electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration like neon's. Metals tend to lose electrons to form cations while nonmetals gain electrons to form anions.
2) Using the periodic table, one can determine an atom's valence electrons and predict what stable ions it will form by gaining or losing electrons to achieve an octet. For example, potassium loses one electron to form the K+ ion.
3) Ions have very different properties from their parent atoms. For instance, sodium and chlorine are reactive as atoms but form the stable ionic compound table salt