What describes a positively charged ion formed by losing electrons?

A positively charged ion formed by losing electrons is known as a cation. This occurs when an atom or molecule loses one or more electrons, resulting in an overall positive charge since there are now more protons than electrons in the species.

For example, when a sodium atom loses one electron, it becomes sodium ion (Na⁺), which is a classic example of a cation. In contrast, anions represent negatively charged ions formed by gaining electrons, while isotopes refer to variants of chemical elements that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, and molecules are combinations of two or more atoms bonded together, which do not inherently describe charge.