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News tagged with ions

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

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

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

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

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

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 star explodes, turns inside-out

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new X-ray study of the remains of an exploded star indicates that the supernova that disrupted the massive star may have turned it inside out in the process. Using very long observations ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Graphene battery demonstrated to power an LED

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Hong Kong have reported, in ArXiv, their experiments to make a graphene battery that they say generates an electrical current by drawing on the ambient thermal energy in the sol ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (25) | comments 24 | with audio podcast report

Unique salt allows energy production to move inland

Production of energy from the difference between salt water and fresh water is most convenient near the oceans, but now, using an ammonium bicarbonate salt solution, Penn State researchers can combine bacterial ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Mar 01, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Elusive matter found to be abundant far above Earth

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cold plasma has been well-hidden. Space physicists have long lacked clues to how much of this electrically charged gas exists tens of thousands of miles above Earth and how the stuff may impact our planet's ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

RNA editing responsible for colder water survival in octopus

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered that when it comes to the survival of an octopus living in frigid waters, the reasoning is not a difference in the gene DNA but rather a difference in the RNA editing.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

New technology improves both energy capacity and charge rate in rechargeable batteries

Imagine a cellphone battery that stayed charged for more than a week and recharged in just 15 minutes. That dream battery could be closer to reality thanks to Northwestern University research.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 14, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (18) | comments 17 | with audio podcast

New record voltage for organic solar cells opens the tech to consumer electronics

Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have achieved and demonstrated a record ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (12) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Sulfur in hollow nanofibers overcomes challenges of lithium-ion battery design

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stanford researchers have used nanotechnology to invent a better lithium ion battery cathode.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Proton-based transistor could let machines communicate with living things

Human devices, from light bulbs to iPods, send information using electrons. Human bodies and all other living things, on the other hand, send signals and perform work using ions or protons.

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (20) | comments 26 | 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.