Over on Reddit, they are once again asking some pretty interesting questions. Off the back of “Why does ha make hot but hoo make cold?” and “Which way do the scales tip?” they are now asking: “What would happen if you were to lose one electron from every atom in your body?”
“So, I’ve seen the meme of ‘Mods, add an electron to every atom in their body’, and I know that its been asked here,” Redditor Spectre1442 wrote in the AskPhysics subreddit. “So it got me thinking. What would happen if every atom had an electron removed. What is the effect of the inverse situation, when every single atom in the human body suddenly gains a positive charge where prior there was none[?]”
So, what would happen? As Reddit pointed out, it isn’t exactly what you’d call a “fun time”. The first thing you should know is that this is not a great idea. Death is absolutely certain, and you will be far from the only casualty.
As you can probably infer from rubbing a balloon on your head, your kid touching your hand as they get off a trampoline, or simply sticking your finger into a plug socket (please don’t), a charge imbalance is a powerful thing. It is what’s responsible for lightning and static electricity, and you are aware of how powerful those are.
The main issue with removing one electron from each atom in your body, apart from the hassle, is the resulting gigantic charge imbalance. In short, simplified terms, every atom in your body now wants to repel every other atom in your body. The result, unless you know of a really good physics doctor with plenty of electrons in their med bag, is that your body will fling itself apart.
That’s a huge “you” problem, but what about everyone else? Given that there are roughly seven billion billion billion atoms in someone weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds), they’re going to have a problem too.
“The electrostatic potential energy between those ions would be enormous. A rough estimate shows it could be in the range of: 1017 to 1020 joules,” Redditor Last-Form-5871 wrote, doing some very rough estimates.
“Compare that to: 1 ton of TNT = 4.18 × 109 joules Tsar Bomba (largest nuclear bomb ever) = ~2 × 1017 joules. So in the worst-case estimate, you’re releasing more energy than the largest nuke ever detonated — from a single person. You wouldn’t just explode. You’d detonate like a superweapon, instantly vaporizing yourself and likely a city-sized area.”
Which wouldn’t be great, but try to stay positive.
Source Link: What Would Happen If You Lost One Electron From Every Atom In Your Body?
