In ordinary chemical reactions, the nucleus — which contains the protons and neutrons of each atom and thus identifies the element — remains unchanged. Electrons, however, can be added to atoms by transfer from other atoms, lost by transfer to other atoms, or shared with other atoms. The transfer and sharing of electrons among atoms govern the chemistry of the elements. During the formation of some compounds, atoms gain or lose electrons to form electrically charged particles called...

A battery is a galvanic cell that is used as a source of electrical power for specific applications. Modern batteries exist in a multitude of forms to accommodate various applications, from tiny button batteries such as those that power wristwatches to the very large batteries used to supply backup energy to municipal power grids. Some batteries are designed for single-use applications and cannot be recharged (primary cells), while others are based on conveniently reversible cell reactions that...

All objects we see around us consist of atoms, which combine to form molecules. The lightest element in the universe is hydrogen, and a hydrogen atom consists of a positively charged proton and a negatively charged electron. The magnitude of charge that a proton and an electron carry are the same, and it is the fundamental unit of charge. In SI units, it is 1.602 times 10-19 coulomb.
Most atoms additionally constitute another fundamental particle, the neutron. It carries no electrical charge. A...

Electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles attracted to and orbit around the positively-charged nucleus of an atom. They reside in spaces associated with energy levels called shells and are further organized into subshells and orbitals within each shell.
Electrons Orbit the Nucleus
Electrons are found in specific locations outside of the nucleus. The shell in which an electron resides indicates the general energy level of the electron: those closer to the nucleus have less energy,...

Consider two point charges, each exerting Coulomb force on the other. It is possible to describe the Coulomb interaction via an intermediate step by defining a new physical quantity called the electric field.
In the new picture, imagine that the first charge sets up an electric field independent of all other charges in the universe. When another charge comes in its vicinity, the second charge experiences an electric force depending on the electric field at that point. The source charge does not...

The amount of energy required to remove the most loosely bound electron from a gaseous atom in its ground state is called its first ionization energy (IE1). The first ionization energy for an element, X, is the energy required to form a cation with 1+ charge: