B Is it possible to ionise a solid, so that it has no electrons left?

Josiah
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I was just wondering about the ionisation of solids.
Hi, is it possible to ionise a solid, so that it has no electrons left?
Josiah
 
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Josiah said:
TL;DR Summary: I was just wondering about the ionisation of solids.

Hi, is it possible to ionise a solid, so that it has no electrons left?
Josiah
What would hold the atoms (nuclei) together?

Remove too many electrons and the remaining ions will fly apart (for instance by stripping away electrons using laser fields, see e.g., Coulomb explosion).
 
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Josiah said:
Hi, is it possible to ionise a solid, so that it has no electrons left?
Yes, but only at the surface of insulators. UV light ionises atoms and molecules on the surface of dry plastic polymers. Those particles are then ejected from the solid by the positive nuclear charge because the bonds have been removed. Keeping the surface of a plastic wet transports electrons to ionised sites before the local damage can eject a particle.

No, for conductive materials. Metals will remain intact because they share an internal cloud of free electrons. The positive charged solid attracts or scavenges any stray electrons that may come nearby, then shares them out to where they are needed.
 
DrClaude said:
What would hold the atoms (nuclei) together?
Um, the sound of the kaboom? :smile:
 
Hi. I have got question as in title. How can idea of instantaneous dipole moment for atoms like, for example hydrogen be consistent with idea of orbitals? At my level of knowledge London dispersion forces are derived taking into account Bohr model of atom. But we know today that this model is not correct. If it would be correct I understand that at each time electron is at some point at radius at some angle and there is dipole moment at this time from nucleus to electron at orbit. But how...
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