What Happens When You Add More Electrons to a Hydrogen Atom?

[avalanchesj]

So I was watching TV and I got to thinking. If a hydrogen atom has 1 proton and 1 electron... What element would you make if, instead of adding protons and nutron to the nucleus, you were to somehow add additional electrons to the orbitals of that single proton? Is it even possible and what effect would it have?

 

[Bystander]

One proton plus two electrons is a hydride anion.

 

[mfb]

The element is, by definition, given by the number of protons. The number of electrons determines which type of ion (or neutral atom) you have.

 

[DLieberman]

The properties in general, would be that H- (the hydride anion, as noted above) would chemically bind with cations such as Li+, creating chemical compounds such as Lithium Hydride (LiH), which interestingly is the lightest ionic compound. Please note that free lithium does not occur in nature so the reaction isn't quite this trivial:

2 Li + H₂ -> 2 LiH​

in which each lithium atom donates an electron to the corresponding hydrogen atom, becoming (for descriptive purposes):

2( Li⁺ + H^- )​

which are ionically bonded as 2 LiH.
Hope this is helpful!

 

[sardar]

I can provide an explanation for the scenario described. First, it is important to clarify that an atom with 1 proton and 1 electron is not a hydrogen atom, but rather a hydrogen ion, as a neutral hydrogen atom has 1 proton and 1 electron.

In theory, it is possible to add additional electrons to the orbitals of a single proton, but it would result in an unstable and highly reactive atom. This is because the number of electrons in an atom determines its chemical properties, and adding more electrons would change the atom's electronic structure and therefore its reactivity.

If we were to add two more electrons to the orbitals of a single proton, the resulting atom would have a 2- charge, and would be known as a hydride ion. This ion would have the electronic configuration of helium, the element directly above hydrogen on the periodic table. However, the addition of these extra electrons would cause the atom to become highly unstable and likely to react with other elements to gain stability.

Overall, while it is theoretically possible to add additional electrons to the orbitals of a single proton, the resulting atom would have different chemical properties and would likely be highly unstable. This highlights the importance of the number of protons and electrons in an atom, as it determines the element's properties and behavior.