integer_charge

plasmapy.atomic.integer_charge(particle: plasmapy.atomic.particle_class.Particle) → int

Return the integer charge of a particle.

Parameters:

particle (str) – String representing a particle.

Returns:

Z – The charge as a multiple of the elementary charge.

Return type:

int

Raises:

• InvalidParticleError – If the argument does not correspond to a valid particle or contradictory information is provided.
• ChargeError – If charge information for the particle is not available.
• AtomicWarning – If the input represents an ion with an integer charge that is less than or equal to -3, which is unlikely to occur in nature.

Notes

This function supports two formats for integer charge information.

The first format is a string that has information for the element or isotope at the beginning, a space in between, and the integer charge information in the form of an integer followed by a plus or minus sign, or a plus or minus sign followed by an integer.

The second format is a string containing element information at the beginning, following by one or more plus or minus signs.

Examples

>>> integer_charge('Fe-56 2+')
2
>>> integer_charge('He -2')
-2
>>> integer_charge('H+')
1
>>> integer_charge('N-14++')
2