Researchers at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Nanjing University have developed a more accurate way to study the global carbon cycle—specifically, one of the most important ways CO2 is removed from the ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 16, 2019
0
10
Washington State University researchers have found a way to make food taste salty but with less of the sodium chloride tied to poor health.
Other
Apr 11, 2019
3
8
Scientists have discovered a new state of physical matter in which atoms can exist as both solid and liquid simultaneously.
Materials Science
Apr 08, 2019
0
2868
Since the discovery of biological ion channels and their role in physiology, scientists have attempted to create man-made structures that mimic their biological counterparts.
Bio & Medicine
Feb 11, 2019
0
42
For decades, it was assumed that protein channels and protein pumps fulfilled completely different functions and worked independently of each other. Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and University Groningen have ...
Biochemistry
Nov 26, 2018
0
8
A research team at Osaka University has reported a new advance in the design of materials for use in rechargeable batteries, under high humidity conditions. Using inspiration from living cells that can block smaller particles ...
Materials Science
Nov 26, 2018
0
4
Researchers in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine have discovered the molecular basis for a therapeutic action of an ancient herbal medicine used across Africa ...
Biochemistry
Oct 10, 2018
0
71
Invigorating the idea of computers based on fluids instead of silicon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown how computational logic operations could be performed in a liquid ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 29, 2018
1
388
For the first time ever, researchers at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) have identified a specific amino acid residue that is responsible for inverting the communication between the opening of the ...
Biochemistry
Jun 21, 2018
0
22
Deep in the night in muddy African rivers, a fish uses electrical charges to sense the world around it and communicate with other members of its species. Signaling in electrical spurts that last only a few tenths of a thousandth ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 21, 2018
0
95
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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
