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Cation
Cations travel towards a negative pole known as a cathode. A pole is one of two points that are at the extremes (for example, the positive and negative poles). Examples of cations are the following elements: sodium, potassium, magnesium, hydrogen, and calcium. See the entry for ions, to learn how cations are important to the body and how abnormal levels of cations can cause problems. Compare cations to anions, which are ions with negative electrical charges.
An ion with a positive electric charge. An ion is an atom or a group of atoms that have an electric charge by gaining or losing one or more electrons. An atom is the smallest part of a substance that can exist alone or in combination with something else. An electron is a negatively charged particle that is smaller than an atom. Since an electron has a negative charge, if an atom has too few electrons it is considered positive (because there will be more positive charges than negative charges).
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