ION

(n.) One of the small electrified particles into which the molecules of a gas are broken up under the action of the electric current, of ultraviolet and certain other rays, and of high temperatures. To the properties and behavior of ions the phenomena of the electric discharge through rarefied gases and many other important effects are ascribed. At low pressures the negative ions appear to be electrons; the positive ions, atoms minus an electron. At ordinary pressures each ion seems to include also a number of attached molecules. Ions may be formed in a gas in various ways.