Have you observed that changes occurring in your mood or health when the environment changes? Does this have an effect on your physical, emotional, and mental health? When you remain sick for a long period or experience a mental or emotional disturbance, your therapist may recommend you to change your environment and visit some refreshing outdoor places. Have you ever thought why your health, emotions or mental state changes when you change your environment? The answers to all these questions lie in the ions and ionization process.

Our surrounding air is concentrated with ions whether you know about it or not. We are inhaling these ions along with the air and they have a direct impact on us; our moods, health, and respiratory conditions.

Positive and Negative Ions

Positive and negative ions are natural phenomena, which are occurring in every instance around us. They are formed when atoms gain or lose electrons in order to fulfill the octet rule. The charge on an ion is due to the unequal number of protons and electrons present in its atom. The net charge depends on whether the number of electrons is greater or less than the number of protons in the atom.

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What is an Ion?

There are several different definitions of what do ions mean. Basically, an ion is a greek word that means “go”, indicating its very nature of moving and surrounding our environment. To put it simply: any atom that has gained an overall electric charge due to its ability to gain or lose an electron is known as an ion.

This ability of an atom depends on the number of electrons present in its outermost shell. The two types of ions are:

  1. Positive Ions
  2. Negative Ions

Ions Formation:

As ions are natural phenomena, they occur at every place. Some places may have more concentration than others. Some might be filled with a pool of positive ions than negative and vice versa. These ions have a direct impact on our life. Without any delay, let us probe into some details.

How is a Positive Ion Formed?

A positive ion, also known as a cation, is formed by loss of one or more electrons of the atom from its outermost shell. These ions have fewer electrons than protons, thus leading to a net positive charge and the name Positive Ion.

How Negative Ion is formed?

A negative ion is simply an atom that gains one or more electrons in its outermost shell. These ions have more electrons than protons, thus leading to a net negative charge and the name Negative Ion. It is also known as an anion.
Already familiar with the Ions but want to know their effects on human life? Here is the breakdown

Effect on the Human Body

Since both these ions are present in such huge quantities their overall effect on health cannot be ignored. They have a direct impact on human health conditions, mood, and energy levels as well. Regardless of their names, they have an opposite effect on the human body.

Positive Ion and Its Effect on the Human Body

A positive ion or a cation forms when an atom loses an electron, from its outermost shell. Usually, Metals form positive ions due to the ability to lose the electron.

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Most studies have found that levels of positive ions are sufficiently high in homes, congested cities, offices, and industrial zones. These positive ions, unlike their name, bring a lot of negative effects on our bodies.

Positive ions are frequently being generated through our phones, computers and other electromagnetic devices, which in the result is decreasing the negative ion rate from our body, the increase in positively charged ions directly attacks our human breathing system and becomes the cause of asthma attacks.

It also affects the brain and slows it down whilst increasing mental health problems such as anxiety and depression known as positive ion poisoning. It is known that the leading cause of depression, irritability, and mood swings is high numbers of these ions in our homes and workplaces.

A study showed that patients suffering from arthritis noticed increasing pain when fluctuations in weather increased the number of positive ions in the atmosphere.

Positive ions can turn into free radicals in the body which can damage healthy cells and decrease the pH of the blood.

On the other hand, positive ions are also very essential for human growth and a healthy lifestyle. Calcium ions are an essential building block of the human body making up about 1.5% of total body weight. Calcium is required for proper bone and teeth growth.

Other important ions include Magnesium (Mg) and Sodium (Na).

Sources of Positive Ions in the Environment

  1. Common household and workplace objects like cell phones, television, computers.
  2. Air pollution
  3. Toxic carpeting, upholstery, paints.

What is an example of a Positive Ion?

Generally, the examples of positive ion are metals or elements that act like metals. The most common examples of these positive ions are Aluminum or mercury that are found in common things like thermometers for instances. Some of the common elements is:

  1. Aluminum – Al 3+
  2. Barium – Ba 2+
  3. Bismuth – Bi 3+
  4. Cadmium – Cd 2+
  5. Calcium – Ca 2+
  6. Cesium – Cs +
  7. Chromium (III) – Cr 3+
  8. Cobalt – Co 2+
  9. Copper (I) – Cu +
  10. Copper (II) – Cu 2+
  11. Hydrogen – H +
  12. Iron (II) – Fe 2+

Negative Ion and Its Effect on the Human Body

A negative ion is formed by the addition of negatively charged electrons. Only non-metals with 1-3 electrons missing in their outermost shell can form negative ions.

Negative ions, unlike their names, are surprisingly beneficial to human health. They are created by natural effects of water, air, sunlight, and earth’s inherent radiation thus are prevalent in natural places. That is why we feel so fresh and healthy in an open clean environment.

The negative ions help your brain out of depression or anxiety as they are frequently termed as an antidepressant.

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Negative ions help regulate your sleep. Keeping a negative ionizer at home helps you generate negative ions easily and guarantees a good night’s sleep. Negative ions enhance our immune system, strengthen metabolism, neutralize the free radicals, and purify our blood.

Negative ions decrease blood pressure and regulate breathing. It’s a way of helping the cilia to perform a better function, hence, there are fewer chances of any lungs related diseases such as inflammation, hay-fever or asthma, etc.

Chloride ions, Cl-, are important for the blood acid-base balance and the body’s water balance and for the formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. You can find them in intracellular and extracellular liquids.

Phosphate ions, PO4-3, are important as a buffer in the blood for the formation of bones and teeth, their role in muscle contraction and nerve impulses, as a component of many co-enzymes, their role in energy transfer and storage in ATP, and as a component of DNA and RNA.

Looking For Best Air Ionizers To Buy In 2020?

Sources of Negative Ions in the Environment:

  1. Dense forests
  2. Waterfalls
  3. After heavy rain and storms
  4. Beaches

Negative ions are abundant in nature mostly near waterfalls, at the beach, on the ocean surf. The pleasant effect in the atmosphere after a storm is due to an increased concentration of negative ions.

Another source of negative ions is, the Salt Lamp. They absorb water and particles from the air taking positive ions with them. Then, when heated they cleanse the air and release negative ions.

However, We do have one negative ion generator in our home that is the hot steamy shower, the hot water produces many negative ions and cleaning our body with this water helps reduce the chances of many kinds of bacterial diseases and other lungs related problems as well. You might have noticed feeling so fresh after a hot shower.

Fortunately, scientists have an even more effective way to increase the negative ion concentration in our homes and workplaces. Due to the increasing use of gadgets and pollution in our environment, the natural sources of negative ions are not enough to counter this effect. The negative ionizer or more commonly known as an air purifier balances the amount of positive and negative ions in our homes and workplaces.

The Negative Ionizer

According to researchers, our indoor air is 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. These ionizers emit negative ions into the air as a way to clean it which is harmless to you. The electrically generated negative ions attach to the positive ions present in germs, molds, and other contaminants and drop to the floor causing the air to become clean. Some ionizers include an electrostatic collection plate to collect these toxins, but it isn’t always 100% effective.

If you or anyone from your home suffers from seasonal allergies, have asthma or you often get sick. A negative ionizer can trap harmful airborne toxins that cause sickness thus providing you with clean, safe air to breathe in.

Negative ionizers can easily be found at any electronics shop or through online stores. Keeping one of these at home and workplaces will provide you with a healthier environment.

In the end, hoping this page was helpful to understand the difference between positive and negative ions, their health effects, and the importance of negative ionizers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Difference Between Negative and Positive Ions?

Negative and Positive ions differ by the number of electrons in their outermost shell. Positive ion has fewer electrons than its protons and negative ion has more electrons in the outermost shell than protons.

What is the Difference Between Negative and Positive Ions?

Negative and Positive Ions differ by the number of electrons in their outermost shell. Positive Ion has fewer electrons than its protons and Negative Ion has more electrons in the outermost shell than protons.

Are Positive Ions Harmful to Humans?

Unlike its name, Positive Ions have no POSITIVE effect on human life rather they are very dangerous for health, mental, and respiratory problems.

What Are the Benefits of Negative Ions?

Negative Ions are very beneficial for a healthy lifestyle. They have many benefits; they can elevate your mood, purify the air by removing all the dust and allergen particles, stabilize blood pressure, etc.

What Are the Effects of Positive Ions in the Body?

Unnecessary exposure to Positive Ions can cause allergies and many respiratory problems. They affect our physical and mental health directly, ultimately causing depression, anxiety, and infections.

Are There Negative Ions at the Beach?

Yes, the concentration of negative ions at the beach is very high at the beach due to the moving water along the ocean. It naturally generates Negative Ions into the air that’s why you feel much fresh and calm at the beach.

What Causes Positive Ions?

Electronic devices are major sources for generating Positive Ions. Air pollution, carpets, air-conditioning, cell phones, computer devices, hair-dryers, printers, photocopiers all are big Positive Ion generating sources.

Are Negative Ions Bad for You?

Negative ions are known best for their benefits to health and mental conditions. They improve your mood, remove dust particles from the air, strengthens the bones, removes allergens and infection particles, and many more.

Why Are Positive Ions Dangerous?

Positive ions are not healthy at all. They can worsen respiratory conditions. They can contribute to many health diseases such as cancer, etc.

What Are the Negative Ions Called?

Negative ions in scientific terms are known as Anions. These ions are electron acceptors as they gain electrons in the outermost shell.

What Are the Positive Ions Called?

Positive ions in scientific terms are known as Cations. They are electron donors.

Bottom Line

Ions are an essential part of our environment whether we want to believe it or not. These ions have a significant impact on our moods, health, emotions, and mental states. In order to keep yourself and your loved one healthy, happy, and relaxed, you should try to enhance the concentration of negative ions in the environment. This may seem challenging in today’s era but fortunately, air ionizers have largely solved this problem.

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What are Positive and Negative Ions? A Detail Guide
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What are Positive and Negative Ions? A Detail Guide
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Looking to find out what are positive and negative ions? Here is a guide that will walk you through will all the details to help you understand your ions.
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Authur, the digital marketing expert, chose Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as the breadwinner for himself. He believes that these platforms have the extraordinary potential to accommodate big fishes and even small emerging businesses to address their clients. The power of these platforms is what encouraged Authur Jackson to settle for this career.

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