Question

if opposites attract and iron (fe +3) has a positive 3 charge (wants to lose 3 electrons) and chlorine (cl -1) has a negative 1 charge (wants to gain 1 electron); how many cl- atoms do you think one atom of iron fe+3 will attract?

	fe	cl
# atoms	1	3	total charge (on the molecule) = 0
total ion charge	+3	-3

fe+3 attracts 3 cl- atoms to become 1 atom of fe ionically bonded to 3 atoms of cl.
fe+3 attracts 3 cl- atoms to become 1 atom of fe ionically bonded to 1 atoms of cl.
fe+3 attracts 1 cl- atoms to become 1 atom of fe ionically bonded to 2 atoms of cl.
fe+3 attracts 2 cl- atoms to become one atom of fe ionically bonded to 2 atoms of cl.

Explanation:

Step1: Identify charges

Iron ion has a charge of +3 and chlorine ion has a charge of - 1.

Step2: Determine number of Cl - atoms

To balance the +3 charge of Fe+3, we need 3 Cl - atoms since $3\times(-1)= - 3$ and $+3+( - 3)=0$.

Answer:

Fe+3 attracts 3 Cl- atoms to become 1 atom of Fe ionically bonded to 3 atoms of Cl.