8 The Philippine Journal of Science 1921 
the greater the retaining force; and, in the case of two or more 
removable electrons, each succeeding electron is much more diffi- 
cult to remove. Accordingly Cs! ig the most electropositive 
atom, and it is seldom that we find more than two or three elec- 
trons completely removed from any atom, no matter how many 
Shell electrons it may have. Four, five, six, seven, or eight elec- 
trons may be partially removed, however, passing into the shells 
of other atoms, which remain closely bound to the atom in ques- 
tion. 
Gradations in the closeness of the salt-forming union due to 
these differences in the electropositive tendency may be ex- 
pressed roughly by varying the length of the dotted line. 
EXAMPLES 
+ ¢ 2 
Li’ OH 2 r 
yi ees tes QU tot acd aes . = 
2 eeees O eee & 
Oty tra 
Cs - pane oe OH. ~ +4+4++ 7 
3 Rs abeiias © peers 0 
Due to the closeness of union in the oxides of high valence 
they do not form basic hydroxides, involving rupture of the 
metal-oxygen union by ionization, but the central atomic kernel 
attracts, by its strong electrostatic field, even an excess of oxygen 
ions, resulting in the formation of a negatively charged aggre- 
gate as: 
a 
Ret sae { 
+ 
Be 
te 
14 
tt 
Te 
tt 
Q Paha 
1 | 
1 
nee ig 
it 
fo) + 
mew 
© 
are a ee zi : 
Q =<: Or ----O°---.Cr =:- 
it 
at 
Bees on 
