ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Potential theory of Polanyi

Ok, so imagine you have a big ball made of a material that has a lot of tiny particles inside. These particles have electric charges, so they can attract or repel each other depending on their charges.

Now imagine that you have another small ball made of a different material that you want to bring close to the big ball. What do you think will happen?

Well, if the small ball has the opposite charge than the big ball, they will attract each other and the small ball will get closer to the big ball. But if they have the same charge, they will repel each other and the small ball will move away from the big ball.

This is basically what the potential theory of Polanyi is about. It's a way to explain how the charges of the particles inside materials interact with each other and with other materials. And it's important because it helps us understand things like why some materials are conductive (which means they can carry electricity) and others are not, or why some substances dissolve in water and others don't.

The theory also talks about something called "potential energy", which is a little bit like how a bouncy ball has more energy when it's high up in the air than when it's on the ground. It's the energy that the charged particles have because of their position and their interactions with other particles. And this potential energy can affect how the particles move and behave in different situations.

So, to sum it up: the potential theory of Polanyi helps us understand how the electric charges of particles inside materials interact with each other and with other materials, and how this affects their behavior and properties.