Interaction of Free Protons With Ordinary Matter
Although protons have affinity for oppositely-charged electrons, free protons must lose sufficient velocity (and kinetic energy) in order to become closely associated and bound to electrons, since this is a relatively low-energy interaction. High energy protons, in traversing ordinary matter, lose energy by collisions with atomic nuclei, and by ionization of atoms (removing electrons) when until they are slowed sufficiently to be captured by the electron cloud in a normal atom.
However, in such an association with an electron, the character of the bound proton is not changed, and it remains a proton. The attraction of low-energy free protons to any electrons present in normal matter (such as the electrons in normal atoms) causes free protons to stop and to form a new chemical bond with an atom. Such a bond happens at any sufficiently "cold" temperature (i.e., comparable to temperatures at the surface of the Sun) and with any type of atom. Thus, in interaction with any type of normal (non-plasma) matter, low-velocity free protons are attracted to electrons in any atom or molecule with which they come in contact, causing the proton and molecule to combine. Such molecules are then said to be "protonated," and chemically they often, as a result, become so-called Bronsted acids.
Read more about this topic: Proton
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