Can a Magnetic Field Create Ions?

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 3K views
HelloCthulhu
Messages
150
Reaction score
3
Greetings again forum!

I have a question about the influence of magnetic fields on liquids. Can a magnetic field ionize a solution? If so, please explain how. Thank you!
 
Chemistry news on Phys.org
Magnetohydrodynamic generators operate on a similar principle. A Lorentz force is experienced by a charge moving through a magnetic field in the direction orthogonal to both its velocity and the magnetic field. For an ionic solution, each ion could (in theory) be separated by this effect assuming it were strong enough to overcome the complexing action of the liquid. In practice, it's doubtful that this force would be strong enough to perform enough work to ionize a solution since you'd need a hyper-fast particle velocity and an extremely strong magnetic field.
 
Thanks for your response! I really appreciate your input. I'd like to ask you another question. Is there an equation to measure the force of a magnetic field on current inside of an electrolytic solution? Thank you so much for your assistance. :]
 
Doesn't matter where the moving charge is, equations for the Lorentz force are always the same. I guess you should read about magnetohydrodynamics.