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The first chemical circuit developed

Klas Tybrandt, doctoral student in organic electronics at Linkoping University, Sweden, has developed an integrated chemical chip. The results have just been published in Nature Communications.

Chemistry / Other

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 3

Team finds buckyballs grow larger by 'eating' vaporized carbon

(Phys.org) -- Fullerenes were first discovered back in 1985 by a team of physicists vaporizing graphite in helium gas, one class of which, the buckminsterfullerene (C60) named after Buckminster Fuller and ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast weblog

New NIST SRM supports the fight against terrorist bombings

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new standard reference material (SRM) to aid in the detection of two explosive compounds that are known to be used by terrorists. Researchers ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created May 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New CO2-removing catalyst can take the heat

(Phys.org) -- The current method of removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flues of coal-fired power plants uses so much energy that no one bothers to use it. So says Roger Aines, principal ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

Efficient and tunable interface for quantum networks

(Phys.org) -- Quantum computers may someday revolutionize the information world. But in order for quantum computers at distant locations to communicate with one another, they have to be linked together in ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Electron hopping in graphene oxide leads to highly sensitive sensing

(Phys.org) -- Graphene has many promising applications on its own, but pairing the two-dimensional material with the semiconductor titanium dioxide (TiO2) extends its capabilities even further. A team of ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast report

How ion bombardment reshapes metal surfaces

To modify a metal surface at the scale of atoms and molecules — for instance to refine the wiring in computer chips or the reflective silver in optical components — manufacturers shower it with ions. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New nanostructure for batteries keeps going and going

(Phys.org) -- For more than a decade, scientists have tried to improve lithium-based batteries by replacing the graphite in one terminal with silicon, which can store 10 times more charge. But after just a ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (67) | comments 28 | with audio podcast

Engineers develop novel system for producing conductive films

(Phys.org) -- Yale engineers have developed a novel automated system for generating strong, flexible, transparent coatings with promising uses in lithium-ion battery and fuel cell production, among other applications.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New energy storage device could recharge electric vehicles in minutes

(PhysOrg.com) -- It has all the appearances of a breakthrough in battery technology, except that it’s not a battery. Researchers at Nanotek Instruments, Inc., and its subsidiary Angstron Materials, Inc., ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 19, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (53) | comments 43 | with audio podcast feature

'Copper pump's' potential benefit in cancer treatment

(Phys.org) -- A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has made new discoveries about a copper-transporting protein in the membranes of human cells that drug-discovery scientists can co-opt ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Energy storage device fabricated on a nanowire array

In a vivid demonstration of the progress being made in miniaturizing energy storage devices, a team of engineers from Rice University in Houston, Texas, has fabricated an energy storage device where all essential ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 01, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Two atoms entangled using microwaves for the first time

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have for the first time linked the quantum properties of two separated ions (electrically charged atoms) by manipulating them with microwaves ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 38 | with audio podcast

H3+: The molecule that made the Universe

(Phys.org) -- In a study that pushed quantum mechanical theory and research capabilities to the limit, University of Arizona researchers have found a way to see the molecule that likely made the universe - ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Apr 12, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (18) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

A new accelerator to study steps on the path to fusion

The just-completed NDCX-II, the second generation Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), is an unusual special-purpose ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule where the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge.

Since protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged, if there are more electrons than protons, the atom or molecule will be negatively charged. This is called an anion (pronounced /ˈænaɪən/; an-eye-on), from the Greek ἀνά (ana), meaning 'up'.

Conversely, if there are more protons than electrons, the atom or molecule will be positively charged. This is called a cation (pronounced /ˈkætaɪən/; cat-eye-on), from the Greek κατά (kata), meaning 'down'.

An ion consisting of a single atom is called a monatomic ion. If it consists of two or more atoms, it is called a polyatomic ion. Polyatomic ions containing oxygen, such as carbonate and sulfate, are called oxyanions.

When writing the chemical formula for an ion, its charge is written as a superscript '+' or '−' following a number indicating the difference between the number of protons and the number of electrons. The number is omitted if it is equal to 1. For example, the sodium cation is written as Na+, the '+' indicating that it has one less electron than it has protons. The sulfate anion is written as SO42−, the '2−' indicating that it has two more electrons than it has protons.

If an ion contains unpaired electrons, it is called a radical ion. Just like neutral radicals, radical ions are very reactive.

For more information about Ion, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.