Where would the highest concentration of electrons be located?

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    Concentration Electrons
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the location of the highest concentration of electrons in a typical living room setting. Participants explore various interpretations of "concentration," including the presence of electrons in ordinary matter and static electrical charges.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that the highest concentration of electrons would be found where there is the highest concentration of matter, such as around iron or steel objects in a living room.
  • Others propose that gold-plated items, like rings or statues, could have high electron densities due to their material properties.
  • A distinction is made between electrons that are part of neutral atoms and extra electrons that contribute to static charges, with the latter being influenced by environmental factors like humidity.
  • One participant mentions that active decorations, such as waterfalls, might serve as sources of extra electrons or ions.
  • Another participant raises concerns about the ambiguity of "concentration," noting that it can vary based on measurement methods and definitions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on what constitutes the highest concentration of electrons, with no consensus reached on a definitive answer. The discussion includes multiple interpretations and competing ideas.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the subjective nature of terms like "typical" and "concentration," which can vary based on individual perspectives and definitions. There are unresolved aspects regarding the measurement of electron concentration.

!Jon Snow!
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If someone is sitting in a typical living room?

Would you care to elaborate, please and thank you!
 
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Since electrons come with ordinary matter, the highest concentration would be with the highest concentration of matter. In an ordinary living room, the most likely would be around iron or steel.
 
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mathman is right. Neutrons mess the proportions up a bit, but generally, the more mass, the more electrons.
If you're wearing a gold-plated ring, that plating has a good chance of being where the electron density is highest in your room.

There is another interpretation of your question. That would be, where is the highest density of extra electrons in your living room - electrons beyond what are needed to make atoms neutral in charge? Pools of electrons in this sense would be static electrical negative charges - and the "density" would correspond closely to the voltage.

If the humidity is pretty low, you can generate a static charge in the tens of thousands of volts. As the humidity increases, open air static charges drain quickly. Electronics include capacitive charges and a decade ago there was a clear winner in this category. That was when TVs were based on cathode ray tubes and the circuitry included capacitors with whopping charges.

Now, you're probably best looking in the power supplies of you TV, computer, or microwave (although who has a microwave in their living room).
 
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So a giant gold plated Lion-statue would be very high in Electrons?
 
!Jon Snow! said:
So a giant gold plated Lion-statue would be very high in Electrons?

Or a giant gold plated Tiger statue.


(Geaux Tigers!)
 
!Jon Snow! said:
So a giant gold plated Lion-statue would be very high in Electrons?

Solid gold would probably be better. Or solid osmium, which is the densest naturally occurring element, according to Wikipedia.
 
Recent posts confirm that 'typical' is a subjective term among PF members, who exhibit a variety of taste in their choices of living room decor. :biggrin:

I was thinking that any type of active waterfall decoration would be an active source of extra electrons/ions. But then I saw this guy's living room...
bill3.jpg
 
Uh, this sounds like a trick question...

Concentration, whether mass concentration, molar concentration, number concentration, or volume concentration, is going to be confounded by the electron not having unmeasured mass, amount, number, or volume (volume even when measured), and if you are asking because you don't know, that suggests you have not measured yet... :)

Even if and when you do measure, all these concentrations are based on an arbitrary volume in the denominator, and your choice of location and magnitude of that volume is going to vary your resulting calculation of concentration... in principle you may choose such that the result approaches any value between 0 and 1.
 

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