Ionization

Ionization

From one cause or another, atoms continually lose one or more electrons, in which state they are called ions. The ion is no longer electrically neutral. Its positive charge seeks to seize one of the free electrons floating about in space. Ionization and the recapture of free electrons goes on unceasingly in all matter, usually in helter-skelter fashion. But if all the free electrons are drawn in one direction by a constant excess of positive charge at the point, there is a flow of electrical current. In fact, that is just what an electrical current is, a flow of electrons.

Electronics grew out of the experiments of hundreds of scientists to discover why and how electrical currents flow.