What is the process of upsetting electrical neutrality known as?

The process of upsetting electrical neutrality is known as ionization. This refers to the process where atoms or molecules either gain or lose electrons, resulting in the formation of ions. When an atom loses electrons, it becomes positively charged, while gaining electrons results in a negative charge. This shift away from electrical neutrality is fundamental to many chemical and physical processes, including the behavior of gases, the formation of plasma, and various electrical phenomena.

While electrification also involves changes in charge, it generally relates to the process of an object acquiring a net charge through methods such as friction or conduction, rather than focusing specifically on the ionization of individual particles. Polarization, on the other hand, refers to the redistribution of charges within an object but does not necessarily create charged particles, and static charge involves the accumulation of electric charge on the surface of an object without movement, but it does not specifically indicate the altering of neutrality itself at the atomic level.