Re: [Killietalk] potassium chloride

["Roger L. Sieloff" <isodox at sbcglobal_net>]

About Water Softeners ///////////////

Most use ion exchange resins, notably "zeolite", which is a sort of clay.
The ion exchanger substitutes one ion for another. These please consumers
because hard water spots and soap scum are Calcium based. Calcium causes
"hard" water. When the Calcium is replaced with Sodium, the Sodium soap scum
is now soluble and the Sodium water spots are now transparent. However, the
Sodium concentration of softened drinking water goes way up, and this is bad
for people with hypertension.

About Potassium Chloride ///////////

Water "softeners" are recharged with ordinary salt (Sodium chloride). This
recharges the softener's Sodium "battery". Hypertensive people have taken to
using Potassium chloride instead, since Potassium is "healthier" than
Sodium.

///////////// However

The third drug administered during a "lethal injection" execution is a
concentrated solution of Potassium chloride. Nerve cells work only if the
concentration of Sodium outside the cells is higher than the Potassium
concentration inside the cells. Bathed in Potassium, nerve cells don't work,
the heart stops abruptly and justice is served. Salted, no less...

My pinch of salt /////////

If water is softened with KCl (potassium chloride), then the softened water
is going to be high in Potassium. Humans are sophisticated enough to deal
with drinking Potassium Pop, but I suspect a bunch of Killifish eggs are
just not evolved enough to handle this. Besides, they have half a million
times less biomass than their keeper, so I would call this another execution
by lethal injection.

I do use Potassium to incubate eggs however, but this is always about 1/10th
the amount of Sodium I also add. I reckon the total amount of electrolytes
is about 1% by weight. The other ingredients in my egg bath are acriflavine
and methylene blue.
Potassium chloride is also something I add to my brine shrimp hatchers, but
only after a healthy dose of regular salt.

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