The result of this is that the alkalinity of the sea-water increases and the hydrogen-ion concentration decreases.
Experiments made by Moore and Whitley at Port Erin in the Isle of Man show that the hydrogen-ion concentration falls from about 1084 in Dec. to about 108 ' 4 in April.
Evaporation of the water and anything that lowers the hydrogen-ion concentration have the same effect.
The subject was pursued by Thomson and the Cambridge physicists with great mathematical and experimental ability, and finally the conclusion was reached that in a high vacuum tube the electric charge is carried by particles which have a mass only a fraction, as above mentioned, of that of the hydrogen atom, but which carry a charge equal to the unit electric charge of the hydrogen ion as found by electrochemical researches.
Removal by reacting with ammonia The most likely basic substance which a hydrogen ion is going to collide with is an ammonia molecule.