Re: Sparks (and ions)

[jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu (James Mclean)]

William Beaty says:
> On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Ed Schweber wrote:
>
> > Fair enough. But wouldn't the ultimate flow of charge through our bodies be
> > electrons migrating from atom to atom. Admittedly this is not a single
> > electron making the entire run from foot to finger, but is anything lost by
> > thinking of it as a single electron.
>
> Hi again Ed!  Nope, yours is a description of a wire.  In electrolytic
> conductors, charged atoms migrate and electrons do not.

While this seems reasonable for your typical jar of salt water (or
whatever) under going relatively slow electrolysis, I have a hard time
believing that a charged ion in my foot migrates all the way to my finger
in the time it takes for the spark to jump to the doorknob.  Not that I
have an alternative answer, but it seems like something is missing here....

-- 
--James McLean
jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu
post doc
UC San Diego, Chemistry