Hydrogen Cations: The Wandering Protons of Chemistry

[jduster]

Let's say there a particular hydrogen atom would be a rare-occurring hydrogen atom without a nuetron. And let's say it's a cation that donated it's electron. Would it essentially be just a wandering proton?

 

[mfb]

Most hydrogen nuclei do not have a neutron - those with one or even two neutrons are rare (~0.01%).
That is just a single proton, right.

 

[epenguin]

Yes, a hydrogen atom that has lost its electron is a proton. Can exist in hot excited gases, plasmas, particle beams etc. But the protons we talk of in ordinary chemistry and represent H⁺ are really never alone, are always attached to something else, e.g. water and so the 'H⁺' which you will see in texts is a convention for something more realistically represented as H₃O⁺. However, yes they are great wanderers - to transfer of H⁺ from acids to water and back are the fastest chemical reactions known.