Ignoring the role of Pauling repulsion force at and beyond 1 nm, which is the assumed distance at which the Columbic attraction force and the Pauling repulsion force are balanced, the energy required to separate two opposite unit charges from 1 nm to 26 nm, which is the distance required for the force from the extraction potential to overcome the attractive Coulombic force in the ion pair, is 2.22 × 10 -19 J. The energy that can be provided by an ion extraction potential of 2.1 × 10 6 V/m to separate two unit charges from 1 nm to 26 nm is 0.84 × 10 -19 J. Therefore, the majority of the energy required for ion separation from an ion pair has to come from the thermal energy of the ion pair, which is 1.38 × 10 -19 (2.22 × 10 -19 -0.84 × 10 -19 ) J.