![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The following is a random lesson in chemistry. Why? Because I can.
What is a phosphate? Well, it starts with phosphorus.
Phosphorus is a very active little element. Known for burning. It's eager to ignite, and when it does, it burns hot and blindingly bright.
What happens when you burn a chemical? It combines with oxygen. The ease, rapidity, and intensity with which phosphorus burns shows just how enthusiastic it is about doing exactly that.
What's the result? Well, it depends on exact circumstances, but one of the more common ones is PO4, the phosphate group.
A phosphate group is what is known as a free radical. (Totally free and totally radical!tm) A free radical is a group of atoms stuck together that act like a single (charged) unit. Like a giant ion.
Imagine a giant singles bar/dance club. Everyone's floating around, trying to hook up. There are positive ions and radicals and negative ions and radicals. Trick is that everyone wants to hook up with the hottest member of the opposite group they can get. So maybe a so-so positive ion meets up with a really hot negative radical. They start dancing around because, well, opposites attract. But then they bump into another (not quite so hot) negative ion. Positive looks around and... are you kiddin' me? I'm with this total hottie. And the ion floats off, rejected. But then a really hot positive ion comes along and muscles his way in. Negative is happy to trade up. So now they're a couple and it's going to be very hard to break them up because they're both so hot that they're totally into each other. Got it?
Well, a phosphate group is one of the hottest negative radicals you'll ever meet. Which means that phosphoric acid (H3(PO4)2) is one of the most powerful acids you'll ever find. Because PO4 is a more active (hotter) radical group than, say, SO4, a sample of phosphoric acid will be stronger than the same concentration of sulfuric acid. Mix them both with calcium hydroxide (one of the most powerful bases known to man), and you'll end up with more calcium phosphate than calcium sulfate because the phosphates will beat off all the sulfates. (Hence the title of the cut - acidic phosphates will, given the opportunity, grab all the best basic ions and radicals for themselves.)
So, where will you find phosphates?
For one, in your bones. That calcium phosphate I mentioned is (perhaps not surprisingly) pretty hard. It's one of the substances that makes your bones so strong.
Phosphate groups are also found in every living cell as the most basic unit of energy storage. Being so small and yet so active, they make nice little batteries. Any time something needs to be powered, the energy from one or more phosphates is what makes it happen. When you digest sugar to turn it into usable energy, what you're doing is breaking up the molecule and using the released energy to "recharge" used phosphates. (And, since breaking up that sugar molecule takes some effort, guess what you use to power the protiens that do the job?)
Really, they're all over the place. At one time, phosphoric acid (despite - or perhaps because of - its strength) was thought to be a cure-all for your stomach. If the sulfuric acid in your stomach (one of the main chemicals used there to digest food) couldn't do what it needed, then maybe some hotshot phosphates could step in and get the job done.
They became so commonly used and prescribed that pharmacists started using them as the basis of almost all their mixtures. Need to give the patient some medicine? Have him drink it in a phosphate solution. While we're at it, it might help his digestion.
So, naturally, it became something of a fad to make phosphate drinks and to try to find ways to make them taste better. That's how those old drinks stands in pharmacies got their start. And in one of those drinks stands, someone made a very important discovery.
You've got this incredibly powerful acid. One of the strongest known to mankind. When dissolved, it gives off all these really powerful radical groups. Depending on what you do with them, they can be (literally) as hard as a rock or energetic enough to power every part of every cell in your body. Eat through just about anything, support heavy structures, power critical chemical processes... It can do all that and more.
But it turns out that when you mix it with another very weak acid - carbonic acid - you get a fizzy drink with a very distinctive flavor. We call it... "cola."
So, next time you've got a can of Coke (or whatever) in your hands, take a second to appreciate its main ingredient, the amazing phosphate.
What is a phosphate? Well, it starts with phosphorus.
Phosphorus is a very active little element. Known for burning. It's eager to ignite, and when it does, it burns hot and blindingly bright.
What happens when you burn a chemical? It combines with oxygen. The ease, rapidity, and intensity with which phosphorus burns shows just how enthusiastic it is about doing exactly that.
What's the result? Well, it depends on exact circumstances, but one of the more common ones is PO4, the phosphate group.
A phosphate group is what is known as a free radical. (Totally free and totally radical!tm) A free radical is a group of atoms stuck together that act like a single (charged) unit. Like a giant ion.
Imagine a giant singles bar/dance club. Everyone's floating around, trying to hook up. There are positive ions and radicals and negative ions and radicals. Trick is that everyone wants to hook up with the hottest member of the opposite group they can get. So maybe a so-so positive ion meets up with a really hot negative radical. They start dancing around because, well, opposites attract. But then they bump into another (not quite so hot) negative ion. Positive looks around and... are you kiddin' me? I'm with this total hottie. And the ion floats off, rejected. But then a really hot positive ion comes along and muscles his way in. Negative is happy to trade up. So now they're a couple and it's going to be very hard to break them up because they're both so hot that they're totally into each other. Got it?
Well, a phosphate group is one of the hottest negative radicals you'll ever meet. Which means that phosphoric acid (H3(PO4)2) is one of the most powerful acids you'll ever find. Because PO4 is a more active (hotter) radical group than, say, SO4, a sample of phosphoric acid will be stronger than the same concentration of sulfuric acid. Mix them both with calcium hydroxide (one of the most powerful bases known to man), and you'll end up with more calcium phosphate than calcium sulfate because the phosphates will beat off all the sulfates. (Hence the title of the cut - acidic phosphates will, given the opportunity, grab all the best basic ions and radicals for themselves.)
So, where will you find phosphates?
For one, in your bones. That calcium phosphate I mentioned is (perhaps not surprisingly) pretty hard. It's one of the substances that makes your bones so strong.
Phosphate groups are also found in every living cell as the most basic unit of energy storage. Being so small and yet so active, they make nice little batteries. Any time something needs to be powered, the energy from one or more phosphates is what makes it happen. When you digest sugar to turn it into usable energy, what you're doing is breaking up the molecule and using the released energy to "recharge" used phosphates. (And, since breaking up that sugar molecule takes some effort, guess what you use to power the protiens that do the job?)
Really, they're all over the place. At one time, phosphoric acid (despite - or perhaps because of - its strength) was thought to be a cure-all for your stomach. If the sulfuric acid in your stomach (one of the main chemicals used there to digest food) couldn't do what it needed, then maybe some hotshot phosphates could step in and get the job done.
They became so commonly used and prescribed that pharmacists started using them as the basis of almost all their mixtures. Need to give the patient some medicine? Have him drink it in a phosphate solution. While we're at it, it might help his digestion.
So, naturally, it became something of a fad to make phosphate drinks and to try to find ways to make them taste better. That's how those old drinks stands in pharmacies got their start. And in one of those drinks stands, someone made a very important discovery.
You've got this incredibly powerful acid. One of the strongest known to mankind. When dissolved, it gives off all these really powerful radical groups. Depending on what you do with them, they can be (literally) as hard as a rock or energetic enough to power every part of every cell in your body. Eat through just about anything, support heavy structures, power critical chemical processes... It can do all that and more.
But it turns out that when you mix it with another very weak acid - carbonic acid - you get a fizzy drink with a very distinctive flavor. We call it... "cola."
So, next time you've got a can of Coke (or whatever) in your hands, take a second to appreciate its main ingredient, the amazing phosphate.
Tags: