IG7 Page 8
The previous diagrams show how ions are created by contacting two atoms
together and thereby handing off an electron. If these atoms were mobile like
in a gas or liquid, the different charges would attract each other very quickly
and neutralize again. They wouldn’t get very far at all unless the atoms had
enough velocity to overcome the electrical attraction. If these atoms were rub-
ber and hair, like in our balloon example, the motion of physical separation
would draw these two particles apart and create two oppositely charges parti-
cles or ions.
The problem of getting ions into the air is that you have to have enough volt-
age gradient to initiate the electron exchange. A voltage gradient indicates
lines of equal voltage potential the same way isobars indicate lines of equal air
pressure on your weather-mans’ weather map. A strong voltage gradient
would have a lot of lines in a small area. This indicates a strong electrical field
where ions will probably be able to flow. Similarly a strong air pressure gradi-
ent indicates there will be a lot of wind.
Some atoms and molecules are easier to ionize than others. This is depend-
ant upon how strongly the atom or molecule is holding on to its electrons. If
they are loosely bound, they will loose them easily and allow us to ionize the
gas much easier. Some gasses make excellent insulators because they
strongly hold onto their electrons. Others like Hydrogen and Helium have a
loose grip on their electrons and make for poor insulators. Thus they are ex-
cellent sources of light when they are ionized, like in a laser.
To assist in allowing gasses to ionize, we can lower the pressure of the gas.
Higher pressure gasses don’t ionize as easily as low pressure gasses be-
cause the proximity of one gas molecule to another. If gas molecules are
tightly packed together, the motion of the gas molecules keep knocking elec-
trons back into place. Space the molecules out a bit more and there isn’t
enough motion to knock electrons back into place. They instead begin to roam
around the gas and excite more molecules into ions.
Mixing of gasses together even has more impact on how easily ions are
formed. For example Helium and Hydrogen mixed together in the right por-
tions will ionize easier than either one by themselves. Mixing water vapor into
your standard atmospheric gas mixture allows ions to flow very easily. Water
vapor is very good at transporting charges due to the nature and geometry of
the water molecule. We will leave further details up to the chemistry books!
In our case we need to get ions into the air at all times so we’ll need to have
plenty of voltage. The IG7 has plenty with its 7.5 kV output! In fact with normal
dry air we only need about 3,000 Volts per millimeter to get the air to begin to
ionize. Another factor to consider to get electrons in the air is the type of high
voltage terminal to use. Due to repulsive forces we can change our terminal
shape to better suit our purpose. To release ions, we want a sharp tip. To pre-
vent them from being lost we will use a rounded tip. Why is this?
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