What is Ion: Definition and 404 Discussions

An ion () is a particle, atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of the electron is considered negative by convention. The negative charge of an ion is equal and opposite to charged proton(s) considered positive by convention. The net charge of an ion is non-zero due to its total number of electrons being unequal to its total number of protons.
A cation is a positively charged ion with fewer electrons than protons while an anion is negatively charged with more electrons than protons. Because of their opposite electric charges, cations and anions attract each other and readily form ionic compounds.
Ions consisting of only a single atom are termed atomic or monatomic ions, while two or more atoms form molecular ions or polyatomic ions. In the case of physical ionization in a fluid (gas or liquid), "ion pairs" are created by spontaneous molecule collisions, where each generated pair consists of a free electron and a positive ion. Ions are also created by chemical interactions, such as the dissolution of a salt in liquids, or by other means, such as passing a direct current through a conducting solution, dissolving an anode via ionization.

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  1. M

    React Ion of Gases: Low Energy Anion/Cation & Grounded Metal Surface

    How would react ion of some gas (low energy anion or cation) in vicinity of a grounded metal surface or in vicinity of an insulator? I guess a free electron and cation would automaticly recombine. But I don't know the probability nor mechanisms (just tunneling?) for the same thing happening...
  2. G

    Pronouncing "Iron Ion": An English Quandary

    "Iron ion" If the question is too silly for this forum you can move it elsewhere, but after reading about this in a linguistic forum, I would like get the answer from anyone with some Chemistry background. How do people from England or from places with similar accent pronounce "iron ion"...
  3. C

    Do purely electrostatic ion traps exist?

    I was wondering whether you could trap a cation simply by putting it inside a positively charged sphere. Is this possible?
  4. K

    Gas Phase Ion Chemistry vs. Plasma Chemistry

    What is the difference between "Gas Phase Ion Chemistry" and "Plasma Chemistry"? If one wants to learn about the ionization and dissociation processes of hydrogen gas are either of theses fields appropriate to study?
  5. Conservation

    Hybridization of orbitals for Phosphorus in Phosphate Ion

    A relatively easy question regarding hybridized orbital (keep getting confused for some reason): What is the hybridization state for the central phosphorus atom in a phosphate ion? I would presume that it would be sp3d to fulfill the expended octet/five bonds with the four oxygen atoms, but I...
  6. D

    Phosphorous ion in solution and subsequent electromigration?

    Hi there, I would like to know if it possible at all to have phosphorous ions in solution ie P^3- so that I can electromigrate them towards a surface. As I currently understand, this ion is under the phosphide compounds group, and is the least electronegative. For any P electromigration...
  7. U

    How does an ion in aqueous soln induce the same charge on a membrane?

    So if we have an ion, say Cl- in solution, and we have a membrane immersed into the solution. Apparently there is a method in which any ion, of any charge is inhibited from crossing the membrane because it induces the same charge as itself on the membrane. This is called dielectric...
  8. N

    What is the displacement of an ion in a mass spectrometer?

    Homework Statement An ion in a mass-spec follows a semicircular path of radius 15.2 cm. a)What are the distance it travels b)The magnitude of its displacementThe Attempt at a Solution a) s = pi.r r = 15.2cm ∴ s = pi(15.2cm) b) what is part(b) asking?
  9. andyrk

    What is the structure of NC- ion, also known as isocyanide ion?

    What is the structure of isocyanide ion i.e NC- The structure of CN- is in the attachment. But then what is the structure of NC- ion? That is isocyanide ion?
  10. K

    Does sodium ion effect electrolysis of water?

    Does sodium ion effect electrolysis of water? Especially in sodium polyacrylate, which release sodium ion when absorbs water. In other words, if I try to do electrolysis of water in hydrated sodium polyacrylate will it be successful.(Produce hydrogen and ignoring bubble trap inside the gel)...
  11. L

    Bohr radius of a helium ion

    Homework Statement Using the Bohr model, find the atomic radius for a singly ionized He+ atom in the n = 1 (ground) state and the n = 2 (first excited) state. Then find the wavelength of the emitted photon when an electron transitions from the n = 2 to the n = 1 state.Homework Equations a_0 =...
  12. S

    Why does altering permeability of an ion affect equilibrium potential

    It seems to me that change in permeability should not shift the equilibrium of entering and exiting ions, except how fast equilibrium is reached. Consider this: two compartments are separated by a membrane. 1st compartment holds 1mM Na+ and 10mM K+ and 2nd one holds 10mM Na+ and 1mM K+. Let's...
  13. Enigman

    Softening of water by ion exchange resins

    Why is the cation exchange always carried out before anion exchange in softening of hard water by ion exchange resins? Plz. Help:(
  14. Crazymechanic

    Charged Ion Beam and Electromagnetic Induction: A Neutralization Method

    A rather simple question. A confinement of positively charged ions , a tube from the confinement and in the end of the tube a metal plate at a negative potential , if the charged ions are let to run towards the negative metal plate (which they would normally do) the plate would loose it's...
  15. ikihi

    How Many Valence Electrons Are in the ClO2+ Ion?

    Homework Statement Use a piece of scratch paper to draw the Lewis structure for the ClO2+ ion, and then answer these questions (be sure to answer all of them): A. How many total valance electrons does this ion have? B. Which atom is the central atom? C. How many bonding electrons are...
  16. K

    How is heavy ion beam fusion going?

    Does anyone know of the drawbacks and future plans anything to look out for?
  17. S

    An accelerated iron Ion moving through a mass spectrometer's field

    Homework Statement A sample of two different iron ions, Fe2+ and Fe3+, are accelerated by the same potential and then sent through the uniform magnetic field of a mass spectrometer. a) Which ion moves faster after being accelerated? b) Which ion follows the path with the largest radius...
  18. Crazymechanic

    Can electrons fully leave their atoms in a confined plasma?

    Ok here goes one of my crazy , maybe not so questions. When ionization occurs , the electrons and ions form a plasma , now if that plasma would be heavily confined with a +polarity electric field , that would only confine the ions as they have the same charge and would repel from wherever the...
  19. U

    What ion is this? even emission lines matches lyman series of hydrogen

    Homework Statement Calculate the wavelength of the Lyman-α line (the transition from the 1st excited state to the ground state) for (a) hydrogen atoms and (b) positronium e+e-, and explain the origin of their difference. In the light emitted from a star, a pattern of emission lines is found...
  20. D

    How to fix my laptop battery Lithium Ion it does'nt charge anymore

    How to fix my laptop battery Lithium Ion when it doesn't charge.My friend says that his battery became stronger when he put it on the refrigerator,so i did also because my battery is having a problems with its charging.When it became full,and I'm using it before 20% it shutdown itself.But,after...
  21. J

    Writing Common Ion Concentration in Buffer Eq. Expression

    Homework Statement What is the pH of a buffer solution created by combining 100 mL of 0.2 M acetic acid and 400 mL of 0.10 M sodium acetate? Ka= 1.8 x 10^(-5)Homework Equations 1.8 x 10-5=([C2H3O2-][H+])/([HC2H3O2]) The Attempt at a Solution I know what I'm supposed to do to solve this...
  22. K

    The potential future of Heavy Ion Fusion?

    I'd like to know what people think of this as a future power source, what the benefits and the problems are etc. I'll probably watch this tonight: Here also is an interesting website which has some experiments linked: http://hif.lbl.gov/VNLresearch.html So many ways of approaching...
  23. S

    LED voltage indicator for 3.7v lithium ion battery

    For my project, the Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 2600mAh powers arduino, transmitter and a few other parts. My whole design works on 3.3v. I'm trying to build a circuit to indicate the status of the battery using LED. When the voltage of the battery is consumed below 3.0v, I want to...
  24. T

    Transition of Calcium Hydrogen-like Ion

    Homework Statement A hydrogen‑like ion of calcium emits a photon with energy E = 756 eV. What transition was involved? Homework Equations The energy equation: E=Z^2*E_R*(1/n^2-1/n'^2) The Attempt at a Solution First, Z=20 for a calcium ion, and E_R is the Rydberg energy 13.6 eV...
  25. A

    Calculating Charge on 1 g N3- Ions: Where Did I Go Wrong?"

    Homework Statement What is the charge in coulomb on 1 gram of N3- ions 2. The attempt at a solution the atomic mass of nitrogen is 14 gram. hence 14 g nitrogen will contain 6.022*10^23 ions. therefore 1 g nitrogen will contain n=6.022*10^23/14 no. of ions. one N3- ion has a charge of...
  26. S

    Hydroxl Ion radius, binding energy and vibrational frequency

    Homework Statement The Hydroxl Ion (OH-) may be considered as a bound state of O2- and a proton. Treating the O2- ion as a nucleus of charge +8 with the electrons homogeneously distributed in a sphere of radius b, determine approximately the position of the proton, the hydroxl binding energy...
  27. L

    Bivariate gaussians for ion beam optics

    Hello, here is something that's been bothering me for a while: say I have a charged particle beam that can be described by one bivariate Gaussian in X dimension and another bivariate Gaussian in Y dimension. The parameters of the bivariate gaussian are the position (X) of an individual...
  28. I

    Manufacture of solar panel, display, lithium ion battery and PCB

    I am interesting to know about the manufactures of these products: crystalline silicon solar cells, thin-film solar modules, display screens like: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), touch panel and plasma, thin film rechargeable lithium ion batteries, lithium ion batteries for electric car, fuel...
  29. M

    Is there hybridization in the (C2)2+ ion?

    Hi, According to the molecular orbital diagram of the (C2)2+ ion you its a stable ion, because it has a bond order of 1 & that means its a stable substance. Now if you draw the lewis structure you could obtain the geometric arrangement of the electron pairs ( groups) around the central atom...
  30. C

    Why is chlorine the central atom in a chlorate ion

    I know that when you draw the lewis structure for chlorate, the chlorine goes in the center with the oxygen bonded to it. What I don't understand is that the teacher told me that the central atom is the element with the fewest valence electrons. So wouldn't that make oxygen the central atom...
  31. M

    Electrostatic Potential Energy of an ion

    Working from Krane's Modern Physics 11.5 Calculate the first 3 contributions to the electrostatic potential energy of an ion in the CsCl lattice. I believe the formula I'm supposed to use is U_{c}\,=\,-\alpha\frac{e^{2}}{4\pi\epsilon_{0}R} Just from looking in the chapter I can...
  32. A

    Magnetism and Magnetic Fields- Determining mass of ion

    Homework Statement An ion of mass m and charge q is accelerated from rest through a voltage of ΔV. It then enters a magnetic field. Determine the mass of the ion in terms of the measurable quantities: q, ΔV, (B^→) , and x. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution m =...
  33. Z

    What do you know about ion thrusters?

    So I am planning to design and construct a small scale ion thruster for an independent study class i am taking at my local high school. I have spent many hours researching the subject, so i feel like i know a little something about the function and physics behind an ion thruster. i am curious to...
  34. M

    Find magnitude of acceleration on a Ca ion, given electric field.

    Homework Statement The electric field strength across a typical cell membrane is about 107 N/C. Given this information, find the magnitude of the acceleration of a single charged Ca+1 ion as it penetrated throught the cell wall. Ignore any resistive forces. One atomic mass unit is 1.66 x...
  35. V

    Could an ion engine attached to a satellite be used to stabilize orbit?

    Basically, my understanding is that every satellite that is not at a lagrange point will see its orbit eventually decay and it will crash back into the earth. Could an ion engine be set to fire at certain times to offset this? Because the rate of decay is slow, an ion engine might be up for it...
  36. L

    Does Change in NaCl Concentration Indicate Ion Quantity?

    Homework Statement For instance I have NaCl. I found a relationship between conductivity of NaCl in water and concentration of NaCl in the water. It's; conductivity is approx 0.5 concentration Is it correct that the change in concentration gives the number of ions? For example say I...
  37. A

    How to find the speed of an ion using V, T, m, q?

    Hello PF! How I've missed you! :) Studying for a final that's in two days. Our prof skimped on the electricity/electron/unit thing. I don't even know what it's called! :( Homework Statement I need to find the speed of an ion, as well as the magnitude of the magnetic force acting on it...
  38. S

    Quantum Communication, ion traps of thermoluminescent materials

    Recently I've came by this article: "Intercontinental quantum liaisons between entangled electrons in ion traps of thermoluminescent crystals" by Robert Desbrandes and Daniel Van Gent http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0611109 Researchers used ion traps caused by imperfections of the crystals to...
  39. G

    Can an Undergrad Design an Effective Ion Thruster?

    Hello and thanks for taking a look I'm an undergrad student that is trying to design and make a ion thruster for my research project. I know, I should of started with something simpler. The first part of this project is creating an electron source to provide the electron beam to ionize the...
  40. P

    What is the energy ordering for d4 ions in a crystal field?

    The relative ordering of energy in the crystal field of d4 ions are arranged as 4A1g, 4T2g and 4T1g. How can I determine this? What is the rule for describe the relative energy of the terms for dn ions?
  41. Weissritter

    How salty is a half salty solution? I mean, only one kind of ion

    Well...I couldn't fit my question properly in the title. Feel free to propose a way of asking it :biggrin: Please note, concentration will be ommited in order to make this topic easier. Now, as tongue-d humans we are, we can feel the saltiness of a salt solution. Not a big deal up to here. The...
  42. L

    Gaussian Radius of curvature in an argon ion laser

    Hi, having a bit of trouble with this question "In an argon ion laser ( λ = 514nm) the minimum beam waist is 1.0mm and is close to the plane mirror. Calculate the radius of curvature of the beam at the output mirror. 1.15m away" Attempt at a solution: θ = 2λ/pi W02 R = Z + ZR2/Z ZR =...
  43. L

    Ion Specific Molar Conductivity And Resistance

    1. Hi, basically I'm trying to find an equation to find ion specific molar conductivity of salt water flowing between electrodes. Homework Equations resistivity: rho = RA/L conductivity: kappa = 1/rho conducitivity per unit concentration: lambda = conductivity/concentration this is ion...
  44. D

    What is the relationship between arc voltage and current in ion sources?

    I could not figure out definition of arc voltage and arc current. Is that true arc voltage if the potential differences between dual electrode and the current is flow through one of these electrode? any help would be appreciated.
  45. N

    Which one of the following orbitals is lowest in energy in a Li2+ ion?

    Which one of the following orbitals is lowest in energy in a Li2+ ion? 37s 12p z 2d x^2-y^2 5f xyz 4d xz attempt on solution: n=3 l=can be n-1 ml=-l to + l Therefore the lowest energy is I suppose the answer is 12p z? since the l can be any number smaller than 3 until...
  46. P

    Lewis dot structure of nitrate ion

    I'm wondering if anyone can help me with the reasoning for what follows, I'm thinking I must just be missing something quite obvious but I can't seem to see what that is at the moment! :redface: I understand how to get the structure by starting from a 'skeleton structure' and just filling in...
  47. D

    I am looking for differences between electron and ion plasma frequency

    Hi there are two frequency of plasma. the first one is electron plasma and the second one is ion frequency. I want to know in freeman or bernas ion sources are using which one of these frequency to collision the gas and provide plasma and waht is the reason of that.Any help would be appreciated.
  48. D

    FREEMAN ION SOURCE Design and Optimization for Increased Beam Density

    Hi I am searching on freeman ION SOURCE for my BS thesis. I have lots of problem about the material of the FREEMAN ION SOURCE and sizes of all the part to have the best design and better beam density. I need some details. Any help would be appreciated.
  49. D

    How many potassium ions pass through if the ion channel opens for 1.0 {\rm ms}?

    Homework Statement The biochemistry that takes place inside cells depends on various elements, such as sodium, potassium, and calcium, that are dissolved in water as ions. These ions enter cells through narrow pores in the cell membrane known as ion channels. Each ion channel, which is formed...
  50. T

    Penning ion source operating principle

    I'm sending this message to anyone who has knowledge about neutron generator. is there anyone who knows how does penning ion source works. I mean how could ions exit the holes but electrons can't exit. I didn't find any explanation about it on the web
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