- An ionizer is a type of air purifier that cleans the air of dust and debris that can be harmful to breath or aggravate a person's allergies. It pulls the particles out of the air or causes them to stick together to get rid of them. Once they are inside the purifier they are trapped. It accomplishes this by a process know as corona discharge. This charges the particles in the air so that they are attracted to the air purifier and sucked into it.
- The Ionizer emits a small electrical force field, called the corona discharge, which affects the molecules in the air. Air molecules start out as neutral molecules, with an even number of negative and positive protons and electrons. As they pass through this electrical force field, it knocks off an electron, causing the molecule to become negatively charged. For other particles, it may add a proton, causing the molecule to become positively charged.
- There are two metal plates inside the ionizing purifier, one with a positive charge and one with a negative charge . As the molecules pass by the air purifier, the charged protons and electrons are attracted to the charged plates. Once they are sucked into the purifier by the force of attraction, they are trapped. For the particles that become charged but are too far away to be sucked in, they eventually become attracted to each other and the combined weight of so many particles cause them to fall out of the air and to the ground.
