The History of the Ion in Chemistry

The History of the Ion in ChemistryIt may not seem like a big deal, but for those of you who are curious about the history of the ion in chemistry, you may want to know how it came to be. In essence, the ion was created when some amino acids were mixed with sodium ions in a container and stirred together.Chemists knew there had to be an electric field to affect the atoms so that they would follow the voltage changes that were induced by the acid. An electron then traveled from one atom to another. When the electrons reached the amino acid, they could come together to create the ion.Now, that was centuries ago in the early days of the 'science of matter'. But, this doesn't mean that the science of electricity is dead. Quite the contrary. The science of electricity and the ion in chemistry is used to describe the interactions between one element or group of elements and another.Consider the word salt. It describes something that has a large negative charge (negative ion). This is the m ost common example of the ion in chemistry, although it isn't actually part of the natural organic compounds. The word is derived from the Greek words (salta) meaning 'salt' and (ion) meaning 'a cloud'.The modern use of the ion in chemistry was when we first discovered it was possible to treat various kinds of tissue or cell in an animal body as if they were a whole organic structure. One is done by blocking the charged particles from the environment so that the molecules can move freely through the body.Some people call this technique 'electron selective drug delivery'. These particles have to be prepared in such a way that they may pass through the cells while blocking the vital particles and avoiding the destruction of the rest of the organism. Electron selective drug delivery is one of the applications of the ion in chemistry.The best examples of the ion in chemistry would be the atomic ion. We call this kind of ion an atomic group. The next time you come across an interesting m olecule, look closer at the word 'ion' to learn more about the science of physics.