What does the subscript 2 indicate in the compound mgcl2?

a. the chloride ion is twice the size of the magnesium ion.

b. there are 2 chloride ions for each magnesium ion.

c. the chloride ion is transferred two electrons to the magnesium ion.

d. the chloride ion accepted 2 electrons from the magnesium ion

Option (b) is the correct answer.

Explanation:

It is known that when we write a chemical formula then the subscript present in it represents the number of atoms of an element are participating in the chemical bonding.

For example, as the given compound is .

So here, no subscript is present on magnesium atom which means that its subscript is 1 and chlorine atom has a subscript 2 which means that there are 2 atoms of chlorine are present in .

Therefore, we can conclude that the subscript 2 indicate in the compound that there are 2 chloride ions for each magnesium ion.