ion, ion- +

(Greek: ion, "going"; neuter present participle of ienai, "to go"; because an ion moves toward the electrode of an opposite charge)

ion column
1. The trail of ionized gases in the trajectory of a meteoroid entering the upper atmosphere; a part of the composite phenomenon known as a meteor. Also known as meteor trail.
2. The visible train of ionized gas left by a meteorite entering the atmosphere.
ion concentration, ion density, ionization density
1. In atmospheric electricity, the number of ions per unit volume of a given sample of air; more particularly, the number of ions of given type (positive small ion, negative small ion, positive large ion, etc.) per unit volume of air.
2. The number of ions per unit volume.
3. The density of ions in a gas.
ion counter, ionization counter
1. An ionization chamber in which there is no internal amplification by gas multiplication; used for counting ionizing particles.
2. An apparatus that counts the number of unit charges of electricity that are contained in a sampled volume of the atmosphere.

The general procedure is to pass a sample of the atmosphere through a charged cylindrical condenser.

The change in the potential across the condenser is a measure of the ionic charge contained in the sample volume and the change in potential depends upon such factors as the polarizing potential of the condenser, the mobility and charge of the ions, volume and length of the condenser, and sample flow rate.

ion current
1. A current caused by a flow of positively charged ions.
2. The electric current resulting from the motion of ions.
ion detector
A device for the detection of presence or concentration of liquid solution ions; such as, with a pH meter or by conductimetric techniques.
ion emission
The ejection of ions from the surface of a substance or medium into the surrounding space, because of the influence of an electric field or heat.
ion engine
1. A rocket engine that develops thrust by expelling ions rather than gaseous combustion products.
2. An engine that provides thrust by expelling accelerated or high-velocity ions.

Ion engines using energy provided by nuclear reactors are proposed for space vehicles.

3. A type of rocket engine that generates thrust from the electrostatic acceleration of ionized particles.
ion exchange
1. A chemical reaction in which ions are interchanged between one substance and another; usually by means of passing a liquid through a porous, granular solid ghat is relatively insoluble.
2. The use of such a process to replace certain selected anions or cations in a solution; for example, to remove undesirable substances, as in water softening, or to recover desirable ones, as in the separation of valuable metals from wastes.
3. The interchange of ions of the same charge between a solution and a solid in contact with it.
4. A reversible chemical reaction between an insoluble solid and a solution during which ions may be interchanged, used in water softening and in the separation of radioactive isotopes.
5. A chemical reaction in which mobile hydrated ions of a solid are exchanged, equivalent for equivalent, for ions of like charge in solution.

The solid has an open, fish-net-like structure, and the mobile ions neutralize the charged, or potentially charged, groups attached to the solid matrix.

The solid matrix is termed the ion exchanger.

ion fractionation (s) (noun), ion fractionations (pl)
A separation of negatively charged ions or positively charged ions, from a solution by use of a membrane which is permeable to the desired degree, using electro dialyzers and ion-fractionations.
ion gauge, ionization gauge, ionization vacuum gauge
1. A device that determines the degree of vacuum in an electron tube by measuring the amount of ionization current in the tube.
2. A device; such as, a Geiger counter, that determines the amount of radiation in a medium by measuring the ionization generated by charged particles passing through a gaseous substance.
ion implantation
1. The use of a stream of electrically accelerated ions to implant impurities on or near the surface of a substrate during the manufacture of a semiconductor.
2. A method of implanting impurities below the surface of a solid, usually a semiconductor, by bombarding the solid with a beam of ions of the impurity.
3. A process that utilizes accelerated ions to penetrate a solid surface.

The implanted ions can be used to modify the surface composition, structure, or property of the solid material.

Ion implantation is used extensively in the semiconductor industry and the fabrication of integrated circuits in silicon often requires many steps of ion implantation with different ion species and energies.

Ion implantation is also used to change the surface properties of metals and alloys. It has been applied successfully to improve wear resistance, fatigue life, corrosion protection, and chemical resistance of different materials.

ion irradiation
The bombardment of a substance or a specimen with high-velocity ions.
ion kinetic energy spectrometry
1. In spectroscopy, a spectroscopic technique for analyzing the energy of ionic products produced when a beam of ions having high kinetic energy is passed through a field-free reaction chamber.
2. A spectrometric technique that uses a beam of ions of high kinetic energy passing through a field-free reaction chamber from which ionic products are collected and energy analyzed.

It is a generalization of metastable ion studies in which both uni-molecular and bi-molecular reactions are investigated.

ion laser
1. A laser in which a beam of radiation is produced from the transitions in energy levels of ions in a noble gas; such as, helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon.
2. A gas laser in which stimulated emission takes place between two energy levels of an ion.

Gases used include argon, krypton, neon, and xenon; examples include helium-cadmium lasers and metal vapor lasers.

ion machining, ion beam thinning, ion milling
1. The use of a beam of high-energy ions to remove foreign or undesirable materials from a surface.
2. Use of a high-velocity ion beam to remove material from a surface.

A cross reference of word units that are related, directly and/or indirectly, with "electricity": electro-; galvano-; hodo-; piezo-; -tron; volt; biomechatronics, info; mechatronics, info.