Ions are charge-carrying atoms

Almost everyone saw the advertisement of the so-called "Chizhevsky chandelier", from which negative ions in the air increase quantitatively. However, after school, not all clearly remember the very definition of the concept. Ions are charged particles that have lost the neutrality inherent in normal atoms. And now a little more.

"Wrong" atoms

As you know, the number in the table of the great Mendeleyev is related to the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom. Why not electrons? Because the number and completeness of the electrons, although it affects the properties of the atom, but does not determine its fundamental properties associated with the core. Electrons may not be enough, and maybe too much. Ions are just atoms with an "incorrect" number of electrons. And paradoxically, positive are called those with a lack of electrons, and negative - an excess.

A few words about the names

How do ions arise? This is a simple question - there are only two ways of education. Either the chemical way, or physical. As a result, a positive ion can be obtained, which is often called a cation, and a negative one, respectively, an anion. A deficit or an excess of charge can have a single atom or an entire molecule, which is also considered to be an ion of a special polyatomic type.

Striving for stability

If there is ionization of the medium, for example, gas, then there are quantitatively proportional ratios of electrons and positive ions. But such a phenomenon is rare (during a thunderstorm, near a flame), gas in such a changed state does not last long. Therefore, in general, the ions of air that are capable of reacting close to the earth are a rarity. Gas - the environment is very rapidly changing. As soon as the action of ionizing factors ceases, ions meet with each other and again become neutral atoms. This is their normal state.

Aggressive fluid

Ions in large quantities can be contained in water. The fact is that water molecules are particles in which the electric charge is distributed unequally over the molecule, they are dipoles that have a positive charge on one side, and negative on the other. And when a soluble substance appears in the water, the molecules of water with their poles electrically act on the added substance, ionizing it. A good example is seawater, in which many substances exist in a form such as ions. This is known to people long ago. In the atmosphere above a certain point of ions is very much, this shell is called the ionosphere. Solar radiation destroys stable atoms and molecules. Particles in the ionized state can give unusual colors to the whole substance. Example - bright unusual colors of precious stones.

Ions are the basis of life, because the basic process of obtaining energy from ATP is impossible without the creation of electrically unstable particles, cellular respiration itself is based on the interactions of ions and a lot of chemical processes catalyzed by enzymes, is due to ionization only. It is not surprising that some substances in this state a person takes inside. A classic example is useful silver ions.