What Is The Metallic Ion In The Compound CuCl2?

The compound CuCl2 is also known as copper chloride. It contains the metallic copper ion and chloride, the chlorine ion. The copper ion has a positive charge of two, whereas the chlorine ion has a negative charge of one. Because the copper ion has a charge of positive two, copper chloride requires two chlorine ions in order to cancel out the net charge.

Copper ions typically occur in two different states. The first ion has a charge of positive one and is called the cuprous ion. The second ion has a charge of positive two and is called the cupric ion. The cupric ion, present in copper chloride, is the more stable of the two ions. It tends to have a blue color when dissolved in water.