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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 .
The shake-off (SO) model, first proposed by Fittinghoff et al., [46] is adopted from the field of ionization of atoms by X rays and electron projectiles where the SO process is one of the major mechanisms responsible for the multiple ionization of atoms. The SO model describes the NSI process as a mechanism where one electron is ionized by the ...
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 ]
Except at extreme temperatures and pressures, atoms form the three classical states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. Complex molecules can also form various mesophases such as liquid crystals, which are intermediate between the liquid and solid phases. At high temperatures or strong electromagnetic fields, atoms become ionized, forming plasma.
For each atom, the column marked 1 is the first ionization energy to ionize the neutral atom, the column marked 2 is the second ionization energy to remove a second electron from the +1 ion, the column marked 3 is the third ionization energy to remove a third electron from the +2 ion, and so on.
Light with sufficient energy will ionize neutral hydrogen gas. At early times, light was so dense and energetic that hydrogen gas was immediately ionized. As the universe expanded and cooled, the rate of recombination of electrons and protons to form neutral hydrogen was higher than the ionization rate.
This in turn meant that atoms were not indivisible as scientists thought. The atom was composed of electrons whose negative charge was balanced out by some source of positive charge to create an electrically neutral atom. Ions, Thomson explained, must be atoms which have an excess or shortage of electrons. [16]
In physics, the Saha ionization equation is an expression that relates the ionization state of a gas in thermal equilibrium to the temperature and pressure. [1] [2] The equation is a result of combining ideas of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics and is used to explain the spectral classification of stars.