Aerosols are important components of the atmosphere and have an adverse impact on atmospheric visibility and human health, which also affect the climate via direct radiative forcing and the interaction with clouds and precipitation. ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 20, 2020
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7
The rapid development of renewable energy resources has triggered tremendous demands in large-scale, cost-efficient and high-energy-density stationary energy storage systems.
Nanomaterials
Jul 06, 2020
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177
An international research team has for the first time obtained the structure of the light-sensitive sodium-pumping KR2 protein in its active state. The discovery provides a description of the mechanism behind the light-driven ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 28, 2020
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51
The novel coronavirus pandemic has caused an increased demand for antimicrobial treatments that can keep surfaces clean, particularly in health care settings. Although some surfaces have been developed that can combat bacteria, ...
Materials Science
May 27, 2020
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5
An international team of scientists have identified a naturally occurring gene variation that influences sodium content in barley crops. The finding could help to advance the development of barley varieties with greater yield ...
Plants & Animals
May 25, 2020
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8
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have succeeded for the first time in recording a light-driven sodium pump from bacterial cells in action. The findings promise progress in the development of new methods in neurobiology. ...
Optics & Photonics
May 20, 2020
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116
A new study reports that astronauts excrete less sodium in space than on land, a finding that could have implications for the heart health of future space travelers.
Space Exploration
May 12, 2020
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140
Fly ash generated by coal-fired power stations is an environmental headache, creating groundwater and air pollution from vast landfills and ash dams. Some of the waste product can be repurposed into geopolymer concrete, such ...
Polymers
May 07, 2020
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5
In a new report on Science Advances, T. Voisin and a research team in the Scientific Research National Center and the Institute of Technology and Energy Management in France, proposed a new solvent system. The hydrothermal ...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide an effective way of supporting the development of the next generation of high-performance rechargeable batteries, according to research led by the University of Birmingham.
Analytical Chemistry
Apr 29, 2020
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212
Sodium (pronounced /ˈsoʊdiəm/) is a metallic element with a symbol Na (from Latin natrium or Arabic natrun) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals within "group 1" (formerly known as ‘group IA’). It has only one stable isotope, 23Na.
Elemental sodium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1806 by passing an electric current through molten sodium hydroxide. Elemental sodium does not occur naturally on Earth, but quickly oxidizes in air and is violently reactive with water, so it must be stored in an inert medium, such as a liquid hydrocarbon. The free metal is used for some chemical synthesis and heat transfer applications.
Sodium ion is soluble in water in nearly all of its compounds, and is thus present in great quantities in the Earth's oceans and other stagnant bodies of water. In these bodies it is mostly counterbalanced by the chloride ion, causing evaporated ocean water solids to consist mostly of sodium chloride, or common table salt. Sodium ion is also a component of many minerals.
Sodium is an essential element for all animal life and for some plant species. In animals, sodium ions are used in opposition to potassium ions, to allow the organism to build up an electrostatic charge on cell membranes, and thus allow transmission of nerve impulses when the charge is allowed to dissipate by a moving wave of voltage change. Sodium is thus classified as a “dietary inorganic macro-mineral” for animals. Sodium's relative rarity on land is due to its solubility in water, thus causing it to be leached into bodies of long-standing water by rainfall. Such is its relatively large requirement in animals, in contrast to its relative scarcity in many inland soils, that herbivorous land animals have developed a special taste receptor for sodium ion.
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