Ionization facts for kids

Ionization is the physical process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions.

This process works slightly differently depending on whether an ion with a positive or a negative electric charge is being produced. A positively charged ion is produced when an electron bonded to an atom (or molecule) absorbs enough energy to escape from the electric potential barrier that originally confined it, thus breaking the bond and freeing it to move. The amount of energy required is called the ionization potential. A negatively charged ion is produced when a free electron collides with an atom and is subsequently caught inside the electric potential barrier, releasing any excess energy.

Images for kids

• 

  The solar wind moving through the magnetosphere alters the movements of charged particles in the Earth's thermosphere or exosphere, and the resulting ionization of these particles causes them to emit light of varying colour, thus forming Auroras near the polar regions.

• 

  Avalanche effect in an electric field created between two electrodes. The original ionization event liberates one electron, and each subsequent collision liberates a further electron, so two electrons emerge from each collision: the ionizing electron and the liberated electron.

• 

  Combined potential of an atom and a uniform laser field. At distances r < r₀, the potential of the laser can be neglected, while at distances with r > r₀ the Coulomb potential is negligible compared to the potential of the laser field. The electron emerges from under the barrier at r = R_c. E_i is the ionization potential of the atom.

• 

  Schematic presentation of lambda type population trapping. G is the ground state of the atom. 1 and 2 are two degenerate excited states. After the population is transferred to the states due to multiphoton resonance, these states are coupled through continuum c and the population is trapped in the superposition of these states.

• 

  Feynman diagram for the process of double ionization in an atom through re-scattering mechanism

See also

In Spanish: Ionización para niños