What is the Ionic Charge of Manganese (Mn)? And Why?

Charge of Manganese (Mn)

The common Ionic Charge of Manganese (Mn) is 2+, but it also shows other ionic charges such as 3+, 4+, 5+, 6+ and 7+.

But the question is how can you find the ionic charge on Manganese (Mn)?

Well, manganese is a transition element and all the transition and post-transition elements have a variable ionic charge.

The ionic charge of manganese (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 Manganese (Mn) 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 Manganese (Mn)?

As I mentioned earlier, the ionic charge of Manganese (Mn) can be found out by looking at what it is bonded with.

So let’s take examples of compounds of Manganese (Mn) like MnCl2, Mn2O3, MnO2, etc.

Example 1: MnCl2
In MnCl2, the Manganese (Mn) 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 Mn should be 2+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Manganese in MnCl2 is 2+.

Example 2: Mn2O3
In Mn2O3, the Manganese (Mn) 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 Mn should be 3+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Manganese in Mn2O3 is 3+.

Example 3: MnO2
Similarly in MnO2, the Manganese (Mn) is bonded to Oxygen (O).
And you know that the ionic charge of O is 2-.
So from this, you can easily say that the ionic charge of Mn should be 4+, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the ionic charge of Manganese in MnO2 is 4+.

In this way, Manganese can have variable charges depending on what it is bonded to.

I hope you have understood why manganese has variable ionic charges.

Check out some other related topics for your practice.

Related topics:
Charge of Strontium (Sr)
Charge of Boron (B)
Charge of Tin (Sn)
Charge on ClO3 (Chlorate ion)
Charge of Cadmium (Cd) 

Author

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.

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