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It is a cascade reaction involving electrons in a region with a sufficiently high electric field in a gaseous medium that can be ionized, such as air. Following an original ionization event, due to such as ionizing radiation, the positive ion drifts towards the cathode, while the free electron drifts towards the anode of the device. If the ...
All quantities are in Gaussian units except energy and temperature which are in electronvolts.For the sake of simplicity, a single ionic species is assumed. The ion mass is expressed in units of the proton mass, = / and the ion charge in units of the elementary charge, = / (in the case of a fully ionized atom, equals to the respective atomic number).
The terms fractional ionization and ionization fraction are also used to describe either the proportion of neutral particles that are ionized or the proportion of free electrons. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] When referred to an atom, "fully ionized" means that there are no bound electrons left, resulting in a bare nucleus .
Ionization energy is positive for neutral atoms, meaning that the ionization is an endothermic process. Roughly speaking, the closer the outermost electrons are to the nucleus of the atom, the higher the atom's ionization energy. In physics, ionization energy is usually expressed in electronvolts (eV) or joules (J).
Ions consisting of only a single atom are termed atomic or monatomic ions, while two or more atoms form molecular ions or polyatomic ions. In the case of physical ionization in a fluid (gas or liquid), "ion pairs" are created by spontaneous molecule collisions, where each generated pair consists of a free electron and a positive ion. [5]
Spectroscopists customarily refer to the spectrum arising from a given ionization state of a given element by the element's symbol followed by a Roman numeral.The numeral I is used for spectral lines associated with the neutral element, II for those from the first ionization state, III for those from the second ionization state, and so on. [1]
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This comprises ions, neutral atoms and, unless otherwise stated, it can be assumed that the term atom includes ions. The term atomic physics can be associated with nuclear power and nuclear weapons , due to the synonymous use of atomic and nuclear in standard English .