Science Forums 2

[Mercedes Benzene]

what are the purpose of positive and negative charged particles in chemistry? I mean how do they differ from particles with no charge, and what can you use them for

There need to be charged particles because a lot of compound sin chemistry countain ionic bonds. The "charges" represent the number of electrons compared to the original atom.

Here's a little lesson on ionic bonding to help you understand electrons a little better.
Atoms want 8 valence electrons, where "valence" means the outer-most electrons.
Let's take Salt (NaCl) as an example:
Sodium (Na) has 1 valence electron.
Chlorine has 7 valence electrons.

Since Chlorine only needs one to become "stable", then it is easy for it to "grab" one from another atom.
Sodium on the other hand needs seven to become "stable". It is easier for the Sodium atom to lose its one electron, than it would be for it to grab 7.
Therefore, sodium will "donate" its one electron to an atom that has seven...

In this case, its Chlorine. Once sodium donates one, and the chlorine accepts that one electron, both atoms are satisfied!
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As for your original question: charges are used for naming ionic compounds mostly, but serve other purposes too..