An atom which has become electrically charged by gaining or losing electrons is known as what?
"is called the fourth state of matter because its properties are quite different from solids, liquids and gases. Charged particle In physics, a charged particle is a particle with an electric charge. It may be an ion, such as a molecule or atom with a surplus or deficit of electrons relative to protons. It can be the electrons and protons themselves, as well as other elementary particles, like positrons. It may also be an atomic nucleus devoid of electrons, such as an alpha particle, a helium nucleus. Neutrons have no charge. A plasma is a collection of charged particles, atomic"
"incoming free electron (electron attachement). In both cases, the atom or molecule is no more a neutral particle and becomes a charge carrier. If the species has lost one or several electrons, it becomes positively charged and is called a positive ion, or cation. On the contrary, if the species has gained one or several additional electrons, it becomes negatively charged and is called a negative ion, or anion. Individual free electrons and ions in a plasma have very short lives typically inferior to the microsecond, as ionization and recombination, excitation and relaxation are collective continuous processes. The degree of"
"towards the electron-providing (negative) cathode. Negatively charged ions (anions) move towards the electron-extracting (positive) anode. In this process electrons are either absorbed or released. Neutral atoms gain or lose electrons and become charged ions that then pass into the electrolyte. The formation of uncharged atoms from ions is called discharging. When an ion gains or loses enough electrons to become uncharged (neutral) atoms, the newly formed atoms separate from the electrolyte. Positive metal ions like Cudeposit onto the cathode in a layer. The terms for this are electroplating, electrowinning, and electrorefining. When an ion gains or loses electrons without becoming"
"the system, and a reconfiguration of the atoms in the molecules. The gain of an electron is termed ""reduction"" and the loss of an electron is termed ""oxidation"". Reactions in which such electron exchange occurs (which are the basis for batteries) are called reduction-oxidation reactions or redox reactions. In a battery, one electrode is composed of material that gains electrons from the solute, and the other electrode loses electrons, because of these fundamental molecular attributes. The same behavior can be seen in atoms themselves, and their ability to steal electrons is referred to as their electronegativity. As an example, a"
"Atomic electron transition Atomic electron transition is a change of an electron from one energy level to another within an atom or artificial atom. It appears discontinuous as the electron ""jumps"" from one energy level to another in a few nanoseconds or less. It is also known as atomic transition, quantum jump, or quantum leap. Electron transitions cause the emission or absorption of electromagnetic radiation in the form of quantized units called photons. Their statistics are Poissonian, and the time between jumps is exponentially distributed. The damping time constant (which ranges from nanoseconds to a few seconds) relates to the"
"atom. Both the electron and electron neutrino can undergo a neutral current interaction via a exchange, and this is responsible for neutrino-electron elastic scattering. An electron can be ""bound"" to the nucleus of an atom by the attractive Coulomb force. A system of one or more electrons bound to a nucleus is called an atom. If the number of electrons is different from the nucleus' electrical charge, such an atom is called an ion. The wave-like behavior of a bound electron is described by a function called an atomic orbital. Each orbital has its own set of quantum numbers such"
"is called ""ionization"". Atoms can be ionized by bombardment with radiation, but the more usual process of ionization encountered in chemistry is the transfer of electrons between atoms or molecules. This transfer is usually driven by the attaining of stable (""closed shell"") electronic configurations. Atoms will gain or lose electrons depending on which action takes the least energy. For example, a sodium atom, Na, has a single electron in its valence shell, surrounding 2 stable, filled inner shells of 2 and 8 electrons. Since these filled shells are very stable, a sodium atom tends to lose its extra electron and"
"nucleus. These are naturally in a ground state but can be excited by the absorption of energy from light (photons), magnetic fields, or interaction with a colliding particle (typically other electrons). Electrons that populate a shell are said to be in a bound state. The energy necessary to remove an electron from its shell (taking it to infinity) is called the binding energy. Any quantity of energy absorbed by the electron in excess of this amount is converted to kinetic energy according to the conservation of energy. The atom is said to have undergone the process of ionization. In the"
"Photoinduced charge separation Photoinduced charge separation is the process of an electron in an atom or molecule, being excited to a higher energy level by the absorption of a photon and then leaving the atom or molecule to a nearby electron acceptor. An atom consists of a positively charged nucleus orbited by electrons. The nucleus consists of uncharged neutrons and positively charged protons. Electrons are negatively charged. In the early part of the twentieth century Ernest Rutherford suggested that the electrons orbited the dense central nucleus in a manner analogous to planets orbiting the sun. The centripetal force required to"
"energy; i.e. the energy gained by the atom appears to be negative. For atoms that become less stable upon gaining an electron, potential energy increases, which implies that the atom gains energy. In such a case, the atom's electron affinity value is positive. Consequently, atoms with a more negative electron affinity value are considered to have a higher electron affinity (they are more receptive to gaining electrons), and vice versa. However, in the reverse scenario where electron affinity is defined as the energy required to detach an electron from an anion, the energy value obtained will be of the same"
"quantity of electric charge to explain the chemical properties of atoms. Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney named this charge 'electron' in 1891, and J. J. Thomson and his team of British physicists identified it as a particle in 1897. Electrons can also participate in nuclear reactions, such as nucleosynthesis in stars, where they are known as beta particles. Electrons can be created through beta decay of radioactive isotopes and in high-energy collisions, for instance when cosmic rays enter the atmosphere. The antiparticle of the electron is called the positron; it is identical to the electron except that it carries electrical"
"or from a molecule or ion changing its oxidation state. This reaction can occur through the application of an external voltage or through the release of chemical energy. Oxidation and reduction describe the change of oxidation state that takes place in the atoms, ions or molecules involved in an electrochemical reaction. Formally, oxidation state is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. An atom or ion that gives up an electron to another atom or ion has its oxidation state increase, and the recipient of the negatively charged"
"transferred to the electron-deficient nonmetal atoms. This reaction produces metal cations and nonmetal anions, which are attracted to each other to form a ""salt"". Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule that has a non-zero net electrical charge. Since the charge of the electron (considered ""negative"" by convention) is equal and opposite to that of the proton (considered ""positive"" by convention), the net charge of an ion is non-zero due to its total number of electrons being unequal to its total number of protons. A cation is a positively charged ion, with fewer electrons than protons, while an"
"electron has its oxidation state decrease. For example, when atomic sodium reacts with atomic chlorine, sodium donates one electron and attains an oxidation state of +1. Chlorine accepts the electron and its oxidation state is reduced to −1. The sign of the oxidation state (positive/negative) actually corresponds to the value of each ion's electronic charge. The attraction of the differently charged sodium and chlorine ions is the reason they then form an ionic bond. The loss of electrons from an atom or molecule is called oxidation, and the gain of electrons is reduction. This can be easily remembered through the"
"very large numbers of atoms. Electrons form notional shells around the nucleus. These are normally in a ground state but can be excited by the absorption of energy from light (photons), magnetic fields, or interaction with a colliding particle (typically ions or other electrons). If the electron absorbs a quantity of energy less than the binding energy, it will be transferred to an excited state. After a certain time, the electron in an excited state will ""jump"" (undergo a transition) to a lower state. In a neutral atom, the system will emit a photon of the difference in energy, since"
"Electron capture Electron capture (K-electron capture, also K-capture, or L-electron capture, L-capture) is a process in which the proton-rich nucleus of an electrically neutral atom absorbs an inner atomic electron, usually from the K or L electron shell. This process thereby changes a nuclear proton to a neutron and simultaneously causes the emission of an electron neutrino. Since this single emitted neutrino carries the entire decay energy, it has this single characteristic energy. Similarly, the momentum of the neutrino emission causes the daughter atom to recoil with a single characteristic momentum. The resulting daughter nuclide, if it is in an"
"These neutral atoms then strike the cathode. Whichever species (ions or atoms) strike the cathode, collisions within the cathode redistribute this energy resulting in electrons ejected from the cathode. This process is known as secondary electron emission. Once free of the cathode, the electric field accelerates electrons into the bulk of the glow discharge. Atoms can then be excited by collisions with ions, electrons, or other atoms that have been previously excited by collisions. Once excited, atoms will lose their energy fairly quickly. Of the various ways that this energy can be lost, the most important is radiatively, meaning that"
"Oxidation state The oxidation state, sometimes referred to as oxidation number, describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. Conceptually, the oxidation state, which may be positive, negative or zero, is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic, with no covalent component. This is never exactly true for real bonds. The term ""oxidation"" was first used by Antoine Lavoisier to signify reaction of a substance with oxygen. Much later, it was realized that the substance, upon being oxidized, loses electrons, and"
"chromium in [Cr(CO)]. The increase in oxidation state of an atom, through a chemical reaction, is known as an oxidation; a decrease in oxidation state is known as a reduction. Such reactions involve the formal transfer of electrons: a net gain in electrons being a reduction, and a net loss of electrons being an oxidation. For pure elements, the oxidation state is zero. The oxidation state of an atom does not represent the ""real"" charge on that atom, or any other actual atomic property. This is particularly true of high oxidation states, where the ionization energy required to produce a"
"Radioactive decay Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity or nuclear radiation) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy (in terms of mass in its rest frame) by emitting radiation, such as an alpha particle, beta particle with neutrino or only a neutrino in the case of electron capture, or a gamma ray or electron in the case of internal conversion. A material containing such unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Certain highly excited short-lived nuclear states can decay through neutron emission, or more rarely, proton emission. Radioactive decay is a stochastic (i.e. random) process at"
"Electron acceptor An electron acceptor is a chemical entity that accepts electrons transferred to it from another compound. It is an oxidizing agent that, by virtue of its accepting electrons, is itself reduced in the process. Electron acceptors are sometimes mistakenly called electron receptors. Typical oxidizing agents undergo permanent chemical alteration through covalent or ionic reaction chemistry, resulting in the complete and irreversible transfer of one or more electrons. In many chemical circumstances, however, the transfer of electronic charge from an electron donor may be only fractional, meaning an electron is not completely transferred, but results in an electron resonance"
"bound to the atom, and the atom will become ionized. After excitation the atom may return to the ground state or a lower excited state, by emitting a photon with a characteristic energy. Emission of photons from atoms in various excited states leads to an electromagnetic spectrum showing a series of characteristic emission lines (including, in the case of the hydrogen atom, the Lyman, Balmer, Paschen and Brackett series.) An atom in a high excited state is termed a Rydberg atom. A system of highly excited atoms can form a long-lived condensed excited state e.g. a condensed phase made completely"
"energy of an atom is the energy required to detach its ""n""th electron after the first ""n − 1"" electrons have already been detached. Each successive ionization energy is markedly greater than the last. Particularly great increases occur after any given block of atomic orbitals is exhausted of electrons. For this reason, ions tend to form in ways that leave them with full orbital blocks. For example, sodium has one ""valence electron"" in its outermost shell, so in ionized form it is commonly found with one lost electron, as . On the other side of the periodic table, chlorine has"
"is said to be negatively charged. When there are fewer electrons than the number of protons in nuclei, the object is said to be positively charged. When the number of electrons and the number of protons are equal, their charges cancel each other and the object is said to be electrically neutral. A macroscopic body can develop an electric charge through rubbing, by the triboelectric effect. Independent electrons moving in vacuum are termed ""free"" electrons. Electrons in metals also behave as if they were free. In reality the particles that are commonly termed electrons in metals and other solids are"
"is the process by which a photon is absorbed by the atom, causing an electron to jump from a lower energy level to a higher one. The process is described by the Einstein coefficient formula_11 (J m s), which gives the probability per unit time per unit spectral energy density of the radiation field that an electron in state 1 with energy formula_23 will absorb a photon with an energy and jump to state 2 with energy formula_22. The change in the number density of atoms in state 1 per unit time due to absorption will be The Einstein coefficients"
"donor to an electron acceptor. During this process (electron transport chain) the electron acceptor is reduced and the electron donor is oxidized. Electron acceptor An electron acceptor is a chemical entity that accepts electrons transferred to it from another compound. It is an oxidizing agent that, by virtue of its accepting electrons, is itself reduced in the process. Electron acceptors are sometimes mistakenly called electron receptors. Typical oxidizing agents undergo permanent chemical alteration through covalent or ionic reaction chemistry, resulting in the complete and irreversible transfer of one or more electrons. In many chemical circumstances, however, the transfer of electronic"
"field approaches the breakdown value, free electrons become sufficiently accelerated by the electric field to create additional free electrons by colliding, and ionizing, neutral gas atoms or molecules in a process called avalanche breakdown. The breakdown process forms a plasma that contains enough mobile electrons and positive ions to make it an electrical conductor. In the process, it forms a light emitting conductive path, such as a spark, arc or lightning. Plasma is the state of matter where some of the electrons in a gas are stripped or ""ionized"" from their molecules or atoms. A plasma can be formed by"
"Electron affinity In chemistry and atomic physics, the electron affinity (""E"") of an atom or molecule is defined as the amount of energy ""released"" or ""spent"" when an electron is added to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form a negative ion. In solid state physics, the electron affinity for a surface is defined somewhat differently (see below). This property is measured for atoms and molecules in the gaseous state only, since in a solid or liquid state their energy levels would be changed by contact with other atoms or molecules. A list of the electron"
"termed ""shared pairs"" or ""bonding pairs"", and the stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms, when they share electrons, is termed ""covalent bonding"". Ionic bonding is a type of chemical bond that involves the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions, and is the primary interaction occurring in ionic compounds. The ions are atoms that have lost one or more electrons (termed cations) and atoms that have gained one or more electrons (termed anions). This transfer of electrons is termed ""electrovalence"" in contrast to covalence. In the simplest case, the cation is a metal atom and the anion is"
"Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule that has a non-zero net electrical charge. Since the charge of the electron (considered ""negative"" by convention) is equal and opposite to that of the proton (considered ""positive"" by convention), the net charge of an ion is non-zero due to its total number of electrons being unequal to its total number of protons. A cation is a positively charged ion, with fewer electrons than protons, while an anion is negatively charged, with more electrons than protons. Because of their opposite electric currents, cations and anions attract each other and readily form"
"small number of electrons in excess of a stable, closed-shell electronic configuration. As such, they have the tendency to lose these extra electrons in order to attain a stable configuration. This property is known as ""electropositivity"". Non-metals, on the other hand, are characterized by having an electron configuration just a few electrons short of a stable configuration. As such, they have the tendency to gain more electrons in order to achieve a stable configuration. This tendency is known as ""electronegativity"". When a highly electropositive metal is combined with a highly electronegative nonmetal, the extra electrons from the metal atoms are"
"nucleus) in an excited state. The atom missing an inner electron can relax by a cascade of X-ray emissions as higher energy electrons in the atom fall to fill the vacancy left in the electron cloud by the captured electron. Such atoms also typically exhibit Auger electron emission. Electron capture, like beta decay, also typically results in excited atomic nuclei, which may then relax to a state of lowest nuclear energy by any of the methods permitted by spin constraints, including gamma decay and internal conversion decay. Internal conversion Internal conversion is a radioactive decay process wherein an excited nucleus"
"Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and typically a similar number of neutrons. Protons and neutrons are called nucleons. More than 99.94% of an atom's mass is in the nucleus. The protons have a positive electric charge, the electrons have a negative electric charge, and the neutrons have no electric charge. If the number of protons and electrons are equal, that atom is electrically neutral. If an atom has more or fewer electrons than protons, then it has an overall negative"