This knocks loose electrons, and the electric field of the solar cell keeps them all traveling in the same direction, thus creating an electric current.

If you start with a gas, and knock electrons out of just a few of it's molecules, you can then start calling it a plasma.

Eventually all these primary and secondary radiations put their energy into knocking loose (ionizing) outer electrons (100eV).

Regardless of what I try, I can't knock electrons off it to get positively charged nuclei.

When a muon or any charged particle passes through the volume it knocks electrons off the atoms of the gas.

Presumably, the light was knocking electrons out of the metal, causing current to flow.

This high energy radiation is absorbed by atmospheric particles, raising them to excited states and knocking electrons free in the process of photoionization.

These collide with other gas molecules, knocking electrons off them and creating more positive ions in a chain reaction called a Townsend discharge.

These struck further gas atoms, knocking electrons off them, creating more positive ions in a chain reaction.

These collide with atoms of the gas, knocking electrons off of them and creating more positive ions.