Question

Why size of cation is smaller than its parent atom?

Answer 1

The answer is because of lesser electrons.

The size of a cation is smaller than its parent atom because of lesser electrons. In other words, although cations have the same nuclear charge as their parent atoms, they do not have the same number of electrons. The available electrons are held firmly inside the nucleus by the protons, which makes the radii of the cations very small compared to the parent atoms. This makes the size of the cations smaller than the parent atoms.

Answer 2

Answer:

Cation is formed when an atom losses electron . Cation lasses the valence electron hence it losses the last orbit thus the size of the cation is reduced .Therefore the radius of cation is always smaller than its parent atom.