this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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I know gator-aid and its like advertise that they have lots of them. And I know sometimes I feel bad if I sweat a lot and just drink water. But are they just advertising... salt? Are there different kinds of electrolytes, and if so are they interchangable?

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[–] Zeth0s 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Sodium is also used for all the electrical activity of our body (such as thinking and moving and living...), and is fundamental in adsorption of nutritions in digestion. Sodium, potassium and calcium are so important that it is difficult to even list all processes they are involved.

Edit. To add context our cells spend between 30 and 70 % of their energy to move around sodium and potassium ions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium%E2%80%93potassium_pump A good chunk of what we eat is to move them around

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

such as thinking and moving and living

bold of you to assume

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yup, they are the basic electron donators for almost everything. In the context of sports drinks tho, hyponatremia is the #2 threat (after hypernayremia, funnily enough), so the rest of it was sort of overcomplicating

[–] Zeth0s 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

They don't donate electrons. When metallic sodium or potassium donate electrons they burn, explosively. It doesn't happen in our bodies. It happens by simple contact with water.

They are already in their ionic form in our body. They cross membranes as ions, creating a potential difference across the membranes. Allowing ions to diffuse along the gradient generates the electric signals of our brains, or triggers the muscle contraction, among other things

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah, thanks for the clarification

[–] feedum_sneedson 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you're saying... they are the electrons. Woahhh.

[–] Zeth0s 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They are positively charged so electrical signals are actually not created by long migrations of electrons, but by short diffusion of positive charges across membranes, that temporarily reverse local polarization. This depolarization triggers nearby regions to do the same, creating depolarization waves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depolarization

It's very fascinating, also because controlling the cross membrane diffusion of ions allows for controlling the signals. Which is what neurotransmitters do

[–] feedum_sneedson 2 points 1 year ago

I know man, I was just being silly. My first degree was in physiology and pharmacology so I'm very familiar with nerve signalling.