Bonding anyone?

In electricity, unlike charges are attracted while like charges repel. In an ionic bond, a positively charged ion and a negatively charged ion are attracted to each other on this basis. Ions become charged when an atom loses or gains an electron; electrons are negatively charged, so losing one results in a positive charge while gaining one results in a negative charge. Atoms normally gain or lose electrons in order to have full electron shells, which are very stable.