3He and 3He+2

[MrGamma]

I am fairly illiterate when it comes to chemistry but I am doing my best to learn.

 

Helium-3 is stable and is denoted as 3He.

 

Ionized Helium-3 is denoted as 3He+2.

 

 

What does it take to transform ionized 3He+2 into 3He?

 

Is it possible?

[insane_alien]

2 electrons.

[Severo]

Electrons have a negative charge (convention)

So:

 

[math]3He^{+2}[/math]

means you have 2 electrons missing.

You might think " Oh, it could be that it has 2 more protons" (wich have a positive charge)

but you can not mess with the protons, because they are in the nucleas

 

so

 

[math]3He^{+2}[/math] [math]\rightarrow^{2_electrons}[/math] [math]3He^{0}[/math]

[Gilded]

You might think " Oh, it could be that it has 2 more protons" (wich have a positive charge)

but you can not mess with the protons, because they are in the nucleas

 

You can "mess" with the protons (not that it's of too much interest in the context of chemistry), but if a helium nucleus was to gain two protons it would not be a helium nucleus at all, but a beryllium nucleus. But your point stands, in chemistry a non-zero electrical charge basically means that the atom or molecule has lost (positive charge) or gained (negative charge) electrons. As electrons aren't too hard to move around with processes like electrolysis it's rather easy to make ions or to convert ions back into neutral atoms/molecules.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Gilded

[CaptainPanic]

The ionization reaction should be:

[ce] ^{3}He^{0} \rightarrow {2 electrons} + ^{3}He^{+2} [/ce]

[MrGamma]

This is the most reliable source I have regarding the subject.

 

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem03136.htm

 

Is this true? There is currently no known plasma to solid conversion process?

 

Technically...

 

 

To put it into context... Would Ionized 3He+2 in the solar wind be a possible resource to convert into 3He? ( regardless of it's quantity )

 

Or technically... would turning an ionized 3He+2 to a 3He equivalent be similar turning lead into gold? Impossible/Possible?

 

As electrons aren't too hard to move around with processes like electrolysis it's rather easy to make ions or to convert ions back into neutral atoms/molecules.

 

So essentially... you could place the 3He+2 along with some other metal in an electrolysis plasma bath and this would transfer the plasma to another material?

 

If this has steered off into speculation my apologies. I am just trying to understand the chemistry behind plasma and ions a little better.

[insane_alien]

There isn't a name for it because it doesn't occur in the one stage.

 

the quickest(least stages) way is recombining the positive ions with electrons to make a vapour and then depositing the vapour(vapour -> solid in one step)

[MrGamma]

There isn't a name for it because it doesn't occur in the one stage.

 

Okay... I've done a little bit of research on this. Apparently there is no need for the ionized 3He+2 to turn into a solid but rather a gas... There is Titanium Oxide which is known to absorb Helium quie effectively once it reaches a temperature above a certain degree.

 

Titanium essentially acts as a sponge for the plasma state helium and captures it to gas trapped within the soil itself?

 

Is this correct?

[insane_alien]

the titanium oxide does not trap helium plasma. it traps helium gas.

 

and helium is soluble in most solids.

[MrGamma]

the titanium oxide does not trap helium plasma. it traps helium gas.

 

and helium is soluble in most solids.

 

So... The solar wind is essentially a plasma and two electrons have been stripped from the helium.

 

The helium plasma must first gain it's electrons back to become trapped by the titanium oxide.

 

I imagine 3He+2 would just need to break free of the electrical charge to become 3He at which point it would be a normal gas which could absorb into the titanium.

 

Is this the correct way to say this?

 

 

If so... what's the difference between 3He+2 and 3He-2 (besides 4 electrons)? In laymans terms please.

Edited September 2, 2008 by MrGamma

[big314mp]

The three in front indicates that there are three particles in the nucleus, as opposed to "normal" helium, which has four. Helium 3 has 2 protons and a neutron. Helium 4 has two protons, and two neutrons. The chemistry of the two is virtually identical, as chemistry deals with electrons (and really only the outer shell of electrons), whereas nuclear physics deals with the nucleus.

 

Under normal conditions, helium has 2 electrons. These two electrons balance the charge of the nucleus, resulting in an overall charge of zero. He 2+ is helium that is missing two electrons (i.e. it is missing ALL of its electrons, so it is just a naked nucleus), and He 2- is helium that has two extra electrons. As you can see, the number out front indicates the overall charge of the helium ion (i.e. If you have removed one electron you would write He 1+, as 2 protons - 1 electron = +1 charge).

 

High temperatures, or strong electrical fields can strip atoms of their electrons. Adding additional electrons to an atom is usually not possible unless the ion that is produced is quite stable (otherwise the added electrons just come right off again). He 2- is not a stable ion, so it is not something that can be produced. He 2+ is relatively straightforward to produce, but it requires some extreme conditions.

 

Under normal conditions, helium is not an ion. To convert He 2+ to He, all you need to do is provide a source of electrons, in conditions that are less extreme than those that produced the He 2+ in the first place. Virtually anything can provide the electrons (as He 2+ will grab electrons very strongly). A metal would probably work best. So you aren't really "breaking it free" of the charge, you are giving it back 2 electrons to balance the charge.

[Gilded]

So essentially... you could place the 3He+2 along with some other metal in an electrolysis plasma bath and this would transfer the plasma to another material?

 

Chemistry is mostly about ions having binded with each other or polar molecules in a solution, but I suppose if you had a neutral atom and a -1 ion in a container the one with more electronegativity would end up having the electron... if you had a contained, heated plasma mixture with a negative net charge (excess electrons), I'd imagine the atoms with low electronegativities would be mostly neutral when the plasma has cooled down. If you had some sort of hypothetical (since helium doesn't really bind with anything) helium-fluorine compound, let's say HeF2 (where a He+2 and two F- have binded together), you could electrolyze it to get fluorine and helium gas.

 

And as big314mp said, a free He+2 radical is pretty eager to grab any electrons it encounters, even off other atoms. This is evidenced in nuclear alpha decay, where a helium nucleus (in this case two neutrons, two protons, thus having +2 charge) is shot out, which then proceeds to ionize the medium it travels through.

Edited September 2, 2008 by Gilded