We’ve all seen sports drinks before. Whether they're in gyms, grocery stores, or restaurants, these fueling beverages all have one thing in common: electrolytes. But, what are electrolytes, and why are they so important?
An electrolyte is a substance that has the ability to conduct electricity and produces ions when dissolved in an aqueous solution, or a solution with a water solvent. Some common electrolytes include sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
A nonelectrolyte is a substance that does not have the ability to conduct electricity and thus does not produce ions when dissolved in a solution.
In chemistry, we identify three different types of electrolytes:
strong electrolytes
weak electrolytes
nonelectrolytes
and we can distinguish between the three by examining pH and electrical conductivity.
pH is a measurement scale used to determine how basic or acidic a substance is. The scale ranges from 0 to 14, 0 being the most acidic, 7 being neutral, and 14 being the most basic. A strong acid has a pH of 0 to 3, a weak acid has a pH of 4 to just below 7, a weak base has a pH of 7 to 10, and a strong base has a pH of 11 to 14.
Strong acids and bases will be strong electrolytes in an aqueous solution. Battery acid, for example, has a pH of zero, making it a strong acid. For this reason, battery acid is one of the best conductors of energy.
Conversely, weak acids and bases will be weak electrolytes in an aqueous solution. Pure water, which has a pH of 7, has no ability to conduct electricity, making it an effective insulator. (However, most water we encounter is not pure, or deionized, so you would not want to mix electricity with it.)
Measuring a substance's electrical conductivity may seem difficult initially, but ions make the process fairly simple.
For a substance like metallic wiring to conduct electricity, it must contain charged, mobile ions. The more charged ions a substance has, the better it is at conducting electricity.
So, by drinking a beverage with electrolytes, you are not providing your body with fuel -- rather, you provide your body with the ingredients to help fuel itself better.
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