Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor in Michigan State University's School of Packaging and recent inductee into the National Academy of Inventors, has always believed that the most brilliant solution is also the simplest.
Polymers
Sep 8, 2023
3
238
Scientists need a better understanding of the chemistry of radium to be able to target the isotope radium-223 (Ra-223) to cancer cells. Once delivered, Ra-223 can destroy those cells with alpha particles, a type of radiation.
Analytical Chemistry
Sep 7, 2023
0
1
Exciting a brain region using electrical noise stimulation can help improve mathematical learning in those who struggle with the subject, according to a new study from the Universities of Surrey and Oxford, Loughborough University, ...
Mathematics
Aug 31, 2023
0
439
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and research partners have found a faster, safer, and less expensive way for growers to detect the invasive Lebbeck mealybug, ...
Biotechnology
Aug 24, 2023
0
1
Ion channels are structures within cell membranes that enable specific ions to travel to and from the cell. Such transfer is essential for a variety of physiological processes such as muscle cell contraction and nerve excitation. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 9, 2023
0
1
For thousands of years, the highly infectious disease cholera has been one of the most feared infections in the world. As it should. The mortality rate was high.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 27, 2023
0
31
Researchers at PSI and the University of Barcelona have managed to explain the strange behavior of microgels. Their measurements using neutron beams have pushed this measuring technique to its limits. The results open up ...
Polymers
Jul 10, 2023
0
8
Ion exchange membranes are needed in (photo)electrolyzers, fuel cells and batteries to separate ions and enable the desired processes. Polymeric membranes such as synthetically produced compounds like NAFION are particularly ...
Polymers
Jul 5, 2023
0
32
Perfect noncaloric replacements for sugar and high fructose corn syrup just don't exist yet. For example, some alternatives have a lingering sweet aftertaste and lack a sugar-like mouthfeel, leaving consumers unsatisfied. ...
Biochemistry
Jun 15, 2023
0
100
Sodium chloride, better known as table salt, isn't exactly the type of mineral that captures the imagination of scientists. However, a smattering of tiny salt crystals discovered in a sample from an asteroid has researchers ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 13, 2023
0
519
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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