What happens to the composition of an atom to cause it to become positively or negatively charged?

The addition and subtraction of negatively charged electrons can easily change an atom’s charge, because they perpetually spin in valence shells outside the nucleus. It is easier for a neighboring atom to share or steal an electron rather than a positively charged proton, which is found in the nucleus. It requires a strong energy input to split a proton free from other protons and neutrons. thus, the atoms lose or gain electrons from neighboring ones and become what is known as "ions". Hope it helped!