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What happens if all the electrons from a lump of material are removed?

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IanB:

--- Quote from: RoGeorge on August 20, 2023, 04:38:16 pm ---I didn't try any numerical estimations so far, it was just a funny "what if" question.  I guess the needed energy is not inimaginably high.  Should be about the same order of magnitude with the energy released (or handled) in various chemical reactions.

--- End quote ---

Yes, the energy is truly, unimaginably high. It's not chemical reaction scale, it's nuclear reaction scale.

For any appreciable mass of material, the energy required to remove even a small fraction of the electrons would make it impossible to do. Even if somehow you did manage to remove a small fraction of electrons, the forces involved would rip surrounding matter apart. It just cannot be done.

When you positively charge an object, the number of electrons removed compared to the number of the electrons that remain is effectively zero. Even with highly charged objects, the ratio of negative charges to positive charges that remain continues to be 1:1 by any normal scale of measurement.

What can be done with individual atoms or molecules in an ionization chamber is different. Here, the scale is so small that even huge amounts of energy, relatively speaking, become accessible. It's a lot of energy per atom, but a small amount of energy in total.

jpanhalt:

--- Quote from: IanB on August 20, 2023, 06:26:11 pm ---When you positively charge an object, the number of electrons removed compared to the number of the electrons that remain is effectively zero.

--- End quote ---

Are simple molecules "objects" in your analysis.  Clearly in mass spectrometry, the fraction of electrons removed is not necessarily zero.*  Now, for bulk materials, I agree.


*For small molecules like CO2,1 of 22 is 4.5%

TimFox:
Ordinarily in mass spectrometry, the ionization removes only one or two electrons, since the rest are more tightly bound and one or two suffice.
I have done momentum spectrometry on H+ and H2+ ions, where the fraction removed is substantial.
For an electrophorus, only a small fraction of the electrons are removed.
A spokesman for electrons said he was glad that only a small fraction was involved.

IanB:

--- Quote from: jpanhalt on August 20, 2023, 08:18:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: IanB on August 20, 2023, 06:26:11 pm ---When you positively charge an object, the number of electrons removed compared to the number of the electrons that remain is effectively zero.

--- End quote ---

Are simple molecules "objects" in your analysis.  Clearly in mass spectrometry, the fraction of electrons removed is not necessarily zero.*  Now, for bulk materials, I agree.
--- End quote ---

Obviously, by object I mean an everyday object at macro scale, not a molecule. See the last paragraph of my post.

Ground_Loop:
I read something years ago that stated a mole of hydrogen and its stripped electrons placed on opposite sides of the earth would attract each other with enough force to pull their containers through the earth.

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