Explain Like I'm Five

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What are electrolytes? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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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[–] [email protected] 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

[–] [email protected] 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.