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 of a flame – this led Cavendish to name the gas inflammable air, which he believed to be one and the same as phlogiston. Cavendish, though he did not realise it, made an important observation about burning phlogiston in air; a dewy liquid was formed on the inside of the glassware: water. This should have had enormous repercussions for the whole scientific community in the 1700s, who still believed water to be an elemental substance. Yet, if water could be "made" by burning inflammable air, then water is "not" an element, but a compound. However, it simply did not occur