But they're really just positively-charged cations — like calcium, sodium, and potassium — and negatively-charged anions, like phosphate, sulfate, and bicarbonate.

但它们实际上只是带正电荷的阳离子——比如钙、钠和钾——和带负电荷的阴离子，比如磷酸盐、硫酸盐和碳酸氢盐。

So cations only react with anions to form new compounds.

所以阳离子只与阴离子反应形成新的化合物。

The sodium, this became a cation, because it's positive.

钠，这变成了阳离子，因为它是正的。

Cations are positively charged and anions are negatively charged.

阳离子带正电， 阴离子带负电。

But how do we know which ions are cations and which are anions?

但是我们怎么知道哪些离子是阳离子哪些是阴离子呢？

Silver is also a metal and is also a cation.

银也是一种金属， 也是一种阳离子。

And don't just think that there's one anion and one cation.

不要只是认为只有一种阴离子和一种阳离子。

But the names of these ions change somewhat depending on whether they are cations or anions.

但是这些离子的名称会根据它们是阳离子还是阴离子而有所不同。

Alkali metals want nothing more than to dump off an electron and form a positive ion, or cation.

碱金属只想释放电子并形成正离子或阳离子。

Now, when we name ionic compounds, we just say the cation first, and the anion second.

现在，当我们命名离子化合物时， 我们只是先说阳离子， 然后再说阴离子。

Cations, for some reason, the name is just the element followed by the word " ion" .

阳离子，出于某种原因， 名称只是元素后跟“离子” 一词。

They all form ions readily when they react with non-metals, and when they do, they always lose electrons, forming cations.

当它们与非金属反应时， 它们都很容易形成离子，当它们发生反应时， 它们总是失去电子， 形成阳离子。

Iron, for example, in the middle there, forms cations, but they can have a charge of either two or three.

例如，铁在中间形成阳离子， 但它们可以带两个或三个电荷。

Ions that have lost electrons, and therefore take on a positive charge, are cations. Whereas ones that gain electrons to become negative are anions.

失去电子并因此带正电荷的离子是阳离子。而那些获得电子变成负离子的是阴离子。

Next, you have the alkaline earth metals - reactive metals, but not as reactive as the alkali metals, forming cations with two positive charges instead of just one.

接下来，你有碱土金属 - 活泼金属， 但不像碱金属那样活泼，形成带有两个正电荷而不是一个正电荷的阳离子。