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 1 is 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 
0 
Li 
Cs 
OH 
OH 
Ca 
O' 
+ +++ 
o rrn Ti = 0 
0 = = r Cr 
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: 
0 
0 
Ti : 
0 
+ 
0 
1 1 + 
0 Cr ==== 0 
0 
0 
: + + 
' + 
+ 
++ o 
+ 
+ 
+ 
■ i + 
0 =:= Cr — 0 — Cr = = = 0 
0 
0 
