The Placement of Positive/Negative Signs in Ionic Notation

[ldv1452]

I've seen ions notated with the positive or negative sign both before and after the element name (usually after). Is this just preference or does its placement indicate anything?

 

[Borek]

Charge is always indicated after the ion, + or - before the name may refer to optical rotation. See

http://old.iupac.org/publications/books/rbook/Red_Book_2005.pdf

scroll down to page 47, IR-3.2.

(you may also check page 25, IR-2.3.2 and page 31, IR-2.8.1).

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[ldv1452]

Interesting. My textbook seems to use them interchangeably for some reason.

 

[Acut]

Interesting. My textbook seems to use them interchangeably for some reason.

Some books will flip the order in which A and Z are displaced (that was the case of my first chemistry textbook).

But I have never found a textbook indicating charges in the "wrong" side. Perhaps it's just an old notation that has since disappeared.