General question which might or might not relate to PM

[nicbordeaux]

Could anyone, offhand, tell me if air, ie the atmosphere we breath in and out and extract o2 from, has a positive and negative polarity ? The actual oxygen carried in the air too ? The exhaled air too ?

Would passing that air through a pipe with a copper wire wound around it or inside it produce any change in energy, charge, polarity, behaviour of the molecules, atoms, electrons and other sub atomic stuff ?

Thanks.

[Bill_Mothershead]

Most people would say that gasses in the atmosphere are usually electrically neutral (except lightning and ozone, etc)
however...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rVdEhyMR6A
there is a bunch of stuff on YouTube that has to do with geophysics and altitude, etc.
essentially getting a small voltage from an antenna.

[MrTim]

There is a polarity, otherwise electrolysis (separating H2 & O) wouldn't work. But that is much more efficient in a liquid than air.

[Art]

This came up in my video feed to the above link Bill .

The voltages they are dealing with now (and plan to deal with in the future at 600ft) would be a good incentive to keep your attention on the job and look out for lightening strikes : )

"Graphene/Graphite Atmospheric Electricity Collectors - Plus Horrific Hexacopter Crash ! "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENeDkGce5-4

[ovyyus]

Oxygen is paramagnetic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMURFiRQ6I

[Robinhood46]

Active carbon filters are positively charged and they attract the negatively charged particles in the atmosphere. This is why they are effective air filters.
So maybe what's in the air will have an effect on how the air will be affected.

[ME]

Could anyone, offhand, tell me if air, ie the atmosphere we breath in and out and extract o2 from, has a positive and negative polarity ? The actual oxygen carried in the air too ? The exhaled air too ?

Would passing that air through a pipe with a copper wire wound around it or inside it produce any change in energy, charge, polarity, behaviour of the molecules, atoms, electrons and other sub atomic stuff ?

Thanks.

With some rusty (pun intended) knowledge of chemistry.

An oxygen atom has 8 protons in the nuclei.
So a neutral atom will have 8 electrons. 2 in the first shell and 6 in the 2nd-shell.
Term: "Aufbau principle"

An oxygen ion (O⁻²) has a full outer shell which makes it more stable. And although negatively charged it has a lower energy state.
Term: "Ionization energy"

Dioxygen, an oxygen molecule (O₂), even has a lower energy state while two atoms, to state it very simple, basically average the state of being neutral and the state of having a full shell.

So this chemical situation is in its state because of the availability of stuff and it being in the lowest potential energy state.
This potential energy state has an equivalent with height and potential energy in a gravitational situation: it requires effort to raise it.

Now your question becomes: why would a molecule suddenly want to end-up in a higher energy state?

[Fletcher]

Hi Nick .. following on from what ME said about raising potential see this YouTube video link. I came across it in December and thought it very interesting. Even tho its 24 minutes long I was glued to it. My attention span usually doesn't last that long. Stick with it to the end.

Altho its not not about O2 per se it is about the charge distribution of water molecules (which is part of air) and how the potential can be raised in a 'water battery' by shining a light on it etc. And how ordinary water has negative and positive polarity in ordinary situations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-T7tCMUDXU