The common Ionic Charge of Indium (In) is 3+, but it also shows other ionic charges such as 1+.
But the question is how can you find the ionic charge on Indium (In)?
Well, indium is a post-transition element and all the transition and post-transition elements have a variable ionic charge.
The ionic charge of indium (or any other transition or post transition elements) depends on what it is bonded with.
So let’s try to find out the ionic charge of Indium (In) using some examples.
You can also refer to the below video from which you will learn to find charge of any ion.
How to find the ionic charge of Indium (In)?
As I mentioned earlier, the ionic charge of Indium (In) can be found out by looking at what it is bonded with.
So let’s take examples of compounds of Indium (In) like InCl3, In2O3, InCl, etc.
Example 1: InCl3
In InCl3, the Indium (In) is bonded to Chlorine (Cl).
You know that the ionic charge of Cl is 1-.
So you can easily say that the ionic charge of In should be 3+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Indium in InCl3 is 3+.
Example 2: In2O3
In In2O3, the Indium (In) is bonded to Oxygen (O).
And again, you know that the ionic charge of O is 2-.
So here also you can easily say that the ionic charge of In should be 3+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Indium in In2O3 is 3+.
Example 3: InCl
Similarly in InCl, the Indium (In) is bonded to Chlorine (Cl).
And you know that the ionic charge of Cl is 1-.
So from this, you can easily say that the ionic charge of In should be 1+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Indium in InCl is 1+.
In this way, Indium can have variable charges depending on what it is bonded to.
I hope you have understood why indium has variable ionic charges.
Check out some other related topics for your practice.
Related topics:
Charge on ClO (Hypochlorite ion)
Charge of Tellurium (Te)
Charge of Krypton (Kr)
Charge on Bromate ion (BrO3)
Charge on SCN
Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. With a desire to make learning accessible for everyone, he founded Knords Learning, an online learning platform that provides students with easily understandable explanations.
Read more about our Editorial process.
