122 WHAT IS LIFE 



the orbit electron. The two positive nuclei, positive 

 electrons, are held together only by the one orbit elec- 

 tron, but they repel each other, while the positive 

 electron (nucleus) with reference to which the orbit 

 electron is at aphelion does not repel any nega- 

 tive electron. Hence the ready encroachment upon 

 the domain of the H2+-ion. 



Thus, then, is pictured the overlapping of the 

 domains of the H2+-ion and an electropositive atom 

 or ion at the critical moment. 



As for the encroaching atom or ion — it may be 

 an atom with only one electron in its outer orbit, 

 rather loosely held, or it may be an atom or ion in 

 which an electron describes a path that takes it 

 from the interior to the periphery of the atom, there 

 readily to be parted from the atom. 



When, in the critical condition postulated, such 

 a negative electron (while describing its normal 

 or an aberrational path) gets into the field of 

 the positive hydrogen nucleus of the H2+-ion with 

 its orbital electron at aphelion, something is bound 

 to happen. The electron may be drawn into the field 

 of the H2+-ion in such a way that it will complete 

 the hydrogen molecule; or, possibly, it may unite 

 with the positive electron to form a normal hydro- 

 gen atom which means that (the positive electron 

 having left the ion) the negative electron would 



