> > Thus, negatively ionized gold atoms would be attracted
> > by a positive potential.
>
> An atom does not have to be ionized to exhibit an
> electric attraction/repulsion effect. Water is "wet",
> this is because the H2O atom is a bit polarized: the
> two hydrogen electrons do not completely "shield" the
> view of the oxygen molecule's 8 electron electric field
> at all times, nor does the O atom completely shield the
> influence of the two H atoms protons. Hence, at certain
> temperatures the "unlike" charges can keep the H2O atoms
> all together, sort of tenuously. We call this "sort of" togetherness,
> liquid water. This tendency for wet things to "stick" ,
> from electric attraction, we call "surface tension."
H20 is not an atom - its a molecule composed of three atoms. Even so, its
net charge is 0; water molecules are not deflected by electric or magnetic
fields.
> Richard Feynman once said that most of physics could be
> derived from only very few fundamental pieces of information,
> and by an individual equipped with the tools of mathematics.
> One of his fundamental and required pieces of information
> for this total derivation is that matter is composed of tiny
> particles called atoms -- little particles that move around
> in constant motion, attracting each other when they are
> a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed
> into one another. He claimed that preceding sentence
> to contain an enormous amount of information of great
> value. Another piece of his required fundamental
> information is that these "atoms" are composed of
> electrically charged particles.
Your description applies more to quarks than atoms. For a readable update on
nuclear physics, try Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe: Superstrings,
Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory". And while you're
visiting Amazon.com, you'll certainly enjoy Feynman's "Surely You're Joking,
Mr. Feynman!".
> I have no idea whether the gold atom, which is really rather
> large and heavy, has any net external electric field. However,
> it has a cloud of 79 electrons, so it may well "appear"
> negative; but do not know for sure.
The nucleus of a gold atom contains 79 protons, which electrically balance
its 79 electrons. A gold atom with net negative charge has been ionized by
the addition of 1 or more electrons. By the way, there's a very nice online
periodic table at http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/pertable_j.htm.
73,
Dave, AA6YQ
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