News tagged with potassium
Repulsive polaron: Austrian physicists realize elusive quasiparticles
(Phys.org) -- In quantum physics physical processes in condensed matter and other many-body systems can often be described with quasiparticles. In Innsbruck, for the first time Rudolf Grimm’s team of ...
May 23, 2012 |
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Blood samples show deadly frog fungus at work in the wild
The fungal infection that has killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University ...
Apr 25, 2012 |
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Safer way to make diazomethane developed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Diazomethane is a toxic, explosive reagent prepared as needed in laboratories, where it is commonly used in cyclopropanation, but its explosive nature prevents it being used widely on an industrial ...
Mar 23, 2012 |
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Protein assassin: Scientists find that the unfolded end of a protein can kill E. coli-like bacteria selectively
When bacteria wage a turf war, some of the combatants have an extra weapon. Certain strains of the bacteria E. coli produce proteins that kill competing E. coli and other like microbes, and researchers from Newcastle Uni ...
Feb 23, 2012 |
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Grass pea 'silver bullet' for drought and waterlogging
Research into the first ever Australian-bred and released grass pea variety has revealed its ability to enhance nitrogen (N) and Potassium (P) uptake in wheat crops.
Feb 14, 2012 |
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RNA editing responsible for colder water survival in octopus
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered that when it comes to the survival of an octopus living in frigid waters, the reasoning is not a difference in the gene DNA but rather a difference in the RNA editing.
Jan 06, 2012 |
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Strip-till improves nutrient uptake and yield
The practice of deep banding fertilizer is growing in popularity as more growers turn to strip-till. However, this method may be costing growers more than it is worth.
Dec 12, 2011 |
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Electrochemistry controlled with a plasma electrode
Engineers at Case Western Reserve University have made an electrochemical cell that uses a plasma for an electrode, instead of solid pieces of metal.
Oct 20, 2011 |
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What keeps the Earth cooking?
What spreads the sea floors and moves the continents? What melts iron in the outer core and enables the Earth's magnetic field? Heat. Geologists have used temperature measurements from more than 20,000 boreholes ...
Jul 17, 2011 |
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New superconductive properties discovered in old sandwich material
(PhysOrg.com) -- Japanese researchers, led by Masashi Kawasaki, have discovered that a previously known kind of double layered material created using electrostatic doping can be used as a superconductor.
May 23, 2011 |
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Potassium channel gene modifies risk for epilepsy
Vanderbilt University researchers have identified a new gene that can influence a person's risk for developing epilepsy. The findings, reported in the March 29 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could improv ...
Apr 04, 2011 |
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Nuke crisis reignites debate on protective pills
(AP) -- The Japanese nuclear crisis has reignited a debate in the U.S. over the government's role in distributing a cheap anti-cancer drug to people living around nuclear power plants.
Mar 30, 2011 |
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Scientists crack molecular code regulating neuronal excitability
A key question in protein biochemistry is how proteins recognize "correct" interaction partners in a sea of cellular factors. Nowhere is that more critical to know than in the brain, where interactions governing ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Mar 22, 2011 |
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So far, risk low from radiation in food in Japan
(AP) -- Radiation-tainted spinach from Japan's damaged nuclear reactors may sound scary, but here's a reality check: Even if any made it to stores there, you'd have to be Popeye to eat enough to worry.
Mar 21, 2011 |
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Radiation risks to health: A joint statement from leading scientific experts
The growing concern surrounding the release of radiation from an earthquake and tsunami-stricken nuclear complex in Japan has raised fears of radiation exposure to populations in North America from the potential plume of ...
Mar 18, 2011 |
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Potassium
Potassium (pronounced /pɵˈtæsiəm/) is the chemical element with the symbol K (Latin: kalium, from Arabic: القَلْيَه al-qalyah “plant ashes”, cf. Alkali from the same root), atomic number 19, and atomic mass 39.0983. Potassium was first isolated from potash. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white metallic alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the evolved hydrogen.
Potassium in nature occurs only as ionic salt. As such, it is found dissolved in seawater, and as part of many minerals. Potassium ion is necessary for the function of all living cells, and is thus present in all plant and animal tissues. It is found in especially high concentrations in plant cells, and in a mixed diet, it is most highly concentrated in fruits.
In many respects, potassium and sodium are chemically similar, although they have very different functions in organisms in general, and in animal cells in particular.
For more information about Potassium, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
