Gas-phase ion chemistry Gas-phase ion chemistry Gas phase ion chemistry is a field of science encompassed within both chemistry and physics. It is the science that studies ions and molecules in the gas phase, most often enabled by some form of mass spectrometry. By far the most important applications for this science is in studying the thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions. For example, one application is in studying the thermodynamics of the solvation of ions. Ions with small solvation spheres of 1, 2, 3... solvent molecules can be studied in the gas phase and then extrapolated to bulk solution. Transition state theory is
Chemistry: A Volatile History magnifying glass he managed to ignite a diamond sufficiently for it to produce a gas, which he collected and was able to identify as carbon dioxide. Having started with only diamond and oxygen, and produced a gas which contains only carbon and oxygen, Tennant had discovered that diamonds are made of carbon. Unaware of atomic theory at the time, scientists were unable to explain how carbon, already known to exist as one of the softest substances in the form of graphite, could also be the sole constituent element of the hardest known substance: diamond. Exactly 50 years later, a young