A neutral hydrogen atom is composed of a proton and an electron.
The overall charge on the atom is zero but there are local charges within the atom as the negative and positive charge is not evenly distributed.
If a neutral hydrogen atom were placed in an electric field the electron and the proton would experience a force in opposite directions.
Could a strong enough electric field tear the electron and proton apart?
Answer
A hydrogen atom can be "torn apart" by a strong enough electric field. This means that the electron of the hydrogen atom will leave the proton. This phenomenon is called field ionization which is caused by a quantum mechanical tunneling process where no energy needs to be supplied to the electron. Without applied electric field, the electron sits in its lowest energy state in the Coulomb potential well of the positive nucleus. If a homogeneous electric field is superimposed on the $1/r^2$ Coulomb field, a potential barrier forms. When at sufficiently high applied field this barrier becomes very thin, the electron can tunnel through this barrier (tunnel effect) and leave the nucleus for good.
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