The sodium atom transfers electrons to the chlorine atoms to form ionic bonds.
The ionic bond is formed when one or more electrons are transferred from one atom to another, thus creating a positive and a negative ion, which join due to an electrostatic attraction.
By removing an electron from a sodium atom and forming a sodium ion, the sodium atom is given great stability by acquiring the electronic configuration of the noble gas neon, which has eight electrons in its outer shell.
The formula for an ionic compound, such as sodium chloride (NaCl), does not indicate that a sodium ion combines with a chloride ion, but it does indicate that the ratio of the sodium ion to the chloride ion is one Na + per a Cl-.
That is, the sodium chloride molecule is formed by the sodium atom gives up an electron to that of chlorine to form the sodium chloride thanks for the attraction of the resulting ions.
This formation by a chloride anion and a sodium cation is classified as an ionic compound since it is composed of two substances that have an important difference in terms of their electronegativities.
Therefore, we can conclude that chlorine is very electronegative and sodium is very electropositive; they have very different electronegativities, so the sodium atom transfers electrons to the chlorine atoms to form ionic bonds.
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