All alone, ammonia and hydrogen chloride use negativity to get attached

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An extra electron helps an ammonia molecule bump up to a hydrogen chloride molecule (top middle) and pull the hydrogen from its chloride. This creates an electron-adorned ammonium chloride an ionic salt (bottom right). The extra electron may find its ...
An extra electron helps an ammonia molecule bump up to a hydrogen chloride molecule (top, middle) and pull the hydrogen from its chloride. This creates an electron-adorned ammonium chloride, an ionic salt (bottom right). The extra electron may find its way, temporarily, into the ammonium molecule (bottom left), forming a Rydberg radical.

Electrons -- bits of negative energy that shock you when you touch a door handle -- spur the chemical reaction between an acid and a base, according to new results in the journal Science. The findings may help researchers someday precisely control chemistry in systems ranging from biology to energy technology.


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