Difference between dissociation and ionisation?

Question

What is the difference between dissociation and ionisation?

Answer 1

Differences between Ionization and dissociation  

    * Ionization, the force comes from within the atom.

    * Dissociation, the force comes from outside the atom and is the interaction between two or more compounds.

Dissociation refers to the breaking of a chemical bond without reference to whether the products are ions or neutral fragments.

Ionization (ionisation, alternate spelling) refers to breaking of

chemical bonds into charged species.

The terms are sometimes both used whenreferring to the ionization reaction HA -----> H(+) + A(-).

Dissociation- http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/d...

Ionization- http://watermiracles.com/Ionization_Of_W...

U can check d last para of this page as well:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/ch...

&

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:ICa...

Answer 2

Dissociation refers to a reaction where a molecule or substance breaks apart into smaller

units. The units are not necessarily ions, although this is often the case.

Ionization generally refers to a reaction which forms ions from an uncharged species.

It does not have to be a reaction with water.

Ionization can sometimes be a particular kind of dissociation. Ionization can also be

achieved by using a photon of sufficient

energy to remove an electron (this is called photoionization).

So the gas-phase reaction

H2 (g) ----> 2 H (g)   (R1)

is a dissociation,

whereas the gas-phase reaction

H2(g)  -----> H- (g)  + H+ (g)   (R2)

is an ionization. The process

H2(g) + photon ----> H2+ (g)  + electron  (R3)

is a photoionization.