ions

Yesterday, at a “natural foods coop”*that tends to cater to hippie-types, I saw something touted as a “Himalayan Salt lamp”.* Basically, it's a big lump of salt with a hollow space carved out for an incandescent light bulb. It was rather pretty to look at, but not, on that basis, worth the...

Okay, I understand that atoms can lose an electron to become positively charge, or gain an electron to become negatively charges. That is ionization. Um, so, uh... Why would anyone do this? What does ionization do to an atom? What does it take to ionize anything? How long does ionization...

I've seen ads for various woo products which supposedly emit "negative ions" which are good for you- mostly candles and such stuff. Recently, I saw a claim that amber emits these negative ions. Now, I'm a chemist rather than a physicist, but it seems to me that the only thing that will emit...

Someone sent me information about this Liquid Mineral Complex – a dietary supplement. Seems like a lot of improbable claims for this product, but there is one thing that puzzles me about this sort of thing, and it is this: (My bold.) Why “ionically charged”? As I recall from high...