Before we go shopping for the newest and latest ionizer we must first be able to answer this question: how does an air ionizer actually work? This is important because you want to know what you are actually buying and you want to be able to make a rational decision about your next purchase. There are tons of products on the market that claim to be an air ionizer – some are, but many are not (at least not in the true sense of the word).
Air ionizers work by releasing a large amount of negatively charged particles called negative ions. Negative ions are attracted to positively charged particles (principle of polarity), which are basically all air pollutants. This means that negative ions and air pollutants attach themselves to each other, effectively removing them from the air.
To better understand air ionizers we must first learn about negative ions since the word ionizer derives from the word ion. Do not worry, we will keep it short and straight to the point.
Positive and negative ions
As you probably already know from physics, an atom consists of an atomic nucleus and electrons that move around it – electron envelope. Atoms do not have an electric charge because they have the same number of positive protons in the inside and negative electrons on the outside. However, when substances react with each other, their atoms either receive, emit, or divide electrons. If an atom accepts electrons an ion with a negative charge is formed (also called anion). If an atom emits electrons, a positive charge ion is formed (called a cation).
In nature, negative ions are only generated by a strong impact or by high voltage which throws a negative ion from the rear rail of an atom. This means that many negative ions are released by lightning, waterfalls, or by waves banging against a rock.
There are usually around a couple of thousand negative ions in a cubic centimeter of air (cm3). You can find the biggest amount of negative ions in nature, specifically in the mountains, near water, in the forest, etc. This is very important to understand as it is a key component of understanding how an air ionizer works. Here is a small comparison of different areas and the amount of negative ions we can find there.
- An apartment or office in a city – between 30 and 50 negative ions/cm3
- A bigger city – between 200 and 450 negative ions/cm3
- Village area (so places that are not urbanized) – between 800 and 1.800 negative ions/cm3
- Near waterfalls and mountains – around 5.000 negative ions /cm3
- Near Niagra falls (the largest waterfall in the world) – 100.000 negative ion /cm3
As you can probably notice there is a huge difference in the number of negative ions we can find in different areas. The key thing you need to know here is this: the more negative ions there are around us, the better.
Can you smell this photo? We sure can!
Now that we have a basic understanding of negative ions, we can move onto the next step.
So how does an air ionizer work – The process
This part can be quite difficult and very technical to describe, but we are going to present it in a very simple way that is easy to understand. We can divide the whole process into four key steps. These are:
- Air ionizers work by releasing a large number of negative ions in the air. We are talking about millions of negative ions per second (good ionizers) per cubic centimeter, every second.
- Negative ions then attach themselves to positive ions. As you know from physics, this is basic polarity – minus attracts plus. All the harmful particles in the air are positive particles. Dust, dirt, soot, viruses, bacteria, mold, organic compounds… we can classify these as “positive ions” for an easier understanding. They vary in size and we can not see most of them with our naked eye.
- The newly formed mass of negative ions and harmful particles becomes heavy enough for gravity to pull down on the floor.
- Once this mass is on the floor, it can not rise back into the air, so we can not inhale it. This is important because air pollution is becoming a bigger problem each day and we can suffer many negative consequences by inhaling these harmful particles.
source: Teqoya
As you can see from the picture, the process is pretty straightforward, yet very effective. Air ionizers are the most effective type of air purifiers can you can get. They remove even the smallest particles, which is an advantage over other types of air purifiers. Most air purifiers can not remove the smallest particles, which are usually the most dangerous ones. Here is a relevant post I made a while ago, asnwering the difference between “regular” air purifiers that use filters and air ionizers.
The biggest factor of air ionizer’s effectiveness is negative ion emission. In other words, how many negative ions the ionizer releases. Since every harmful air particle needs at least negative ion to successfully neutralize it, you need a high enough negative ion emission.
In conclusion
Negative ions are very important for our wellbeing. The more negative ions there are around us, the better it is for us. However, this is especially hard to achieve in urbanized areas such as cities. Closed spaces such as an office/house/apartment are even worse as they contain the least amount of negative ions. This is why we need air ionizers – they release negative ions where we desperately need them – in our homes and even in our cars. People in large cities and industrial zone have it the worst. We can get our dose of negative ions in nature anytime, but an air ionizer is a great alternative to this. With it, we can bring nature into our homes and breathe quality air once again – even from our own couch.
So…how does an air ionizer work? Now you know the answer – by releasing a large number of negative ions into the air, making it clean and giving it that fresh nature-like smell.
I would like to end this blog with a link to my other post, where I list and describe the 5 best negative ion generators to get in 2021. If you are in the market for an air ionizer, this list will come in handy, as there are quite a few “bad” ionizers on the market currently.
