could you use electromagnets to tear electrons from an atom?

[dibinvaderzim]

Could you theoretically use electromagnets to tear electrins from atoms?

[Bill Angel]

I don't know about theoretically, but practically it does not appear to be possible.

The Zeeman shift caused by a 10 Tesla magnetic field is on the order of meV, even for NO, which is a paramagnetic molecule with S=1/2. This Zeeman shift is only less than 0.1% of the binding energy of the electron. Therefore, the orbital motion of the electron in the electronic ground state is not significantly influenced by magnetic fields that can be generated in a laboratory.

See "Magnetic field effect on highly excited states near ionization potential of Nitrous Oxide"

http://iopscience.iop.org/1468-6996/4/3/A06/pdf/1468-6996_4_3_A06.pdf

Edited June 8, 2014 by Bill Angel