In chemistry, a salt is an ionic compound that results from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. Salts are composed of related numbers of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is electrically neutral (without a net charge). These component ions can be inorganic, such as chloride (Cl^-), or organic, such as acetate (CH₃CO₂^-); and can be monatomic, such as fluoride (F^-), or polyatomic, such as sulfate (SO₄^2-).