Water intoxication, as explained by this article, causes problems in electrolyte balance, resulting in a rapid decrease in serum sodium concentration and eventually leads to death. The decrease in serum sodium concentration is known as hyponatremia. As we learned in class, our cells prefer isotonic solutions. With the intake of too much water, Strange's extracellular fluid became more diluted, causing her cells to be bathed in a hypotonic solution. Water flowed into her cells to try and even out the concentration of solute to solvent. This caused her cells to swell. On the way home from the radio station, Strange was complaining of a terrible headache. This is because her brain cells contained too much water, causing intracranial pressure to increase and her to experience a headache.
This article continues to explain more symptoms of water intoxication. The electrolyte imbalance previously described also results in an irregular heartbeat, can allow fluid to enter the lungs, and not only puts pressure on brain cells, but also nerve cells. All of the symptoms are caused by the swelling of the cells. In theory, the excessive amount of water in the cell could cause it to burst.
If one is beginning to experience water intoxication, one way to quickly get it under control is to take diuretics so that one can urinate. Water intoxication should be treated promptly because it leads to damage in basically every part of the body, strokes, comas, and death.
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Now, let's move on to quasicrystals! As this article explains, up until 1982 scientists believed they knew when a crystal was not a crystal. Then in 1982, came this Israeli physicist named Daniel Shechtman. He discovered these things called quasicrystals in metals. These quasicrystals were crystals with odd structures that scientists had thought were impossible structures for crystals to have. At first, his discovery of quasicrystals resulted in Schectman losing his job and drawing scorn from several colleagues. Now, his discovery has earned him the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize in Chemsitry.
So what exactly are quasicrystals? First, it would help to know what a regular crystal was. Crystals are a form of matter that in which atoms are arranged in orderly patterns that repeat themselves. In order to be a crystal, the arrangement of atoms must be symmetrical when viewed from different angles. For example, each atom could be in the middle of a triangle formed by its neighbors. When turned, the series of overlapping triangles form a pattern that reappears with every 120 degrees of rotation. Atoms centered in a pattern of rectangles, squares, hexagons also exhibit this kind of symmetry, but at different angles. However, atoms in patterns made up of geometric shapes with five or more than seven sides, don't show symmetry at any angle. Ergo, materials with those arrangements were not considered crystals
So one day Schectman was mixing molten aluminum and manganese and cooling it quickly to study the properties of the resulting alloy. When he viewed the sample through a microscope he was flabbergasted! The atoms were arranged in pentagons. These pentagons were arranged in concentric circles each having ten dots. The geometric shape formed by the ten dots was a repeated pattern at 36 degrees but the pentagons were not. Schectman had just stumbled upon quasicrystals! At first, even Schectman did not believe his results. However, he realized the results were very real and after finding three highly respected coauthors, he published a paper about quasicrystals in 1984.
Today quasicrystals are still being studied but have been already put into use because of their unique properties. For example, researchers have been trying incorporate their unique properties into technologies as advanced as light-emitting diodes and as common as non-stick frying pans.
The figure on the left would be a crystal arrangement, the figure on the right would be a quasicrystal arrangemnt.
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