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Chemistry / How does chlorine become chloride when it bonds?

« on: 19/03/2018 17:09:43 »

Sometimes we can go through life thinking we know something that we do not know.  My time of awakening has come.  I have known since high school long ago that NaCl is Sodium Chloride, common table salt.  Because - so far as I knew - chemical compounds consist of combinations of the basic (pure) elements, I assumed that chloride was an element.  I have a wonderful book of the elements by Theodore Gray but I guess I never tried to find chloride in it -- until last night. 

Last night I discovered that a bonding of Sodium and Chlorine gives us Sodium Chloride.  I immediately assumed that it was a simple case of a spelling change which didn't seem like a bad idea considering that almost everybody knows chlorine as poisonous.  Why would we have chlorine in one of the most over-used foods (seasonings) in our diet, I asked myself.  Knowing that would have ended the medical world's constant pleas that we stop using so much NaCl overnight.

That sent me to Mr. Gray's "The Elements".  I had read and re-read his explanations of how we learn about the elements.  I have even read details of many of the elements.  But now I find out that chloride is not an element.  Of course, I then had to find chlorine.  I did not learn there what I really want to know.

I tried the internet but all the articles I try are too far over my head.  All I get out of them is "Chlorine becomes Chloride" because it gains an electron from the Sodium and bonds with Chloride ion.  And that is where I get lost.

I hope I am making sense.  I'd appreciate a simple explanation.  Or, if someone knows a simple article online,  I'll be glad to read it.   If it isn't just a change in spelling, how did chlorine become chloride?  One of the Wiki articles sounds as if one of the ancient chemists created chloride.

Thank you.

An easier question before I leave.  Does this sort of change happen often in the compounding of elements?   Thank you.

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Physiology & Medicine / How is Parkinson's Disease similar to Huntington's, Alzheimer's and autism?

« on: 08/11/2017 13:47:57 »

Often, in reading articles about brain disorders, I see four diseases listed as if they are all of one type:  Autism, Huntington's, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.  I had always thought of Parkinsons's as a nerve disease that disrupts smooth muscle coordination.  Please, how does Parkinson's fit into the same category as the other three?  Thank you.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / When we fly do we gain or lose weight?

« on: 27/09/2016 12:35:55 »

I realize I can't (they say) compare apples and oranges; nor can I compare  the vacuum of space to the gravity of Earth with my question.  But I have to start somewhere to get this straight.

I keep reading that in space, if a "heavenly"  body (say an asteroid) picks up speed,  it will gain mass/weight.  This doesn't seem to make sense but perhaps it has to do with being in a vacuum.  I accept it as said.

That puzzle gets to my question back to Earth.  If a flying object (airplane) picks up more and more speed, is it also going to gain mass/weight?  It increases speed to overcome a certain amount of gravity.  Wouldn't it have less mass/weight as it went faster?  I thought the pull of gravity made us weigh more, not less.  So, if the plane overcomes a certain amount of gravity, wouldn't it weigh less? 

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Physiology & Medicine / Can a living system export entropy?

« on: 18/09/2016 14:10:56 »

According to Wiki, the biological definition of "negentropy" is different from that of the information theory definition:

I quote:


"The negentropy has different meanings in information theory and theoretical biology. In a biological context, the negentropy (also negative entropy, syntropy, extropy, ectropy or entaxy,[1]) of a living system is the entropy that it exports to keep its own entropy low; it lies at the intersection of entropy and life."

The last phrase is vague to me.  Can someone please explain that as well as can someone give an example of when a living system would export entropy?  I know it is to keep its entropy low but when might there be a need for the export?  I am suspecting it has to do with illness but maybe I am wrong.

Thank you.

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Technology / "Electro ..... signals in the computer?

« on: 28/08/2014 13:04:05 »

They say the computer operates like the brain.  Well, actually, they say the brain operates like a computer but my thinking is it should be the reverse for obvious reasons.  So, my questions:

In the brain, electrochemical signals travel the synapses to trigger messages to areas of the body and/or mind.  I have a feeling the same process takes place in the computer.  The messages the operator calls for have to be sent through the system to the correct destination (the asked-for information).

If I am right, what is this signal system called and where does it operate?  What is the equivalent of the brain's "synapses" and of the brain's "electrochemical signal"? 

I did try Google but got long drawn-out articles about how computers work and never found what I wanted.

Thank you for a very simple reply to my two questions.