Kelsey Davis Blog on NCAA.com

Auto Pilot wrote:I am guessing pickle juice works because it contains mega sodium for long shelf life. Athletes have been taking salt pills for years for cramps. Credit to Sara for a tasty way to get her salt. Did I say tasty? I'm the guy who takes his mini pickles of his hamburgers.

Correct. When absorbed by the cells the sodium ions will cause the concentration of ions in the cell to be higher than the concentration outside. To balance the concentrations the body sends water into the cell, meaning the cell will retain water longer.

Fun fact: You would die without the sodium ions in pickle juice and table salt. Pure sodium metal, though, is so reactive it will ignite when placed in water.

And let me tell you sodium metal in water is pretty freaking awesome to watch... My favorite day in chemistry, EVER...

I wonder if an empty jar of sauerkaraut fluid would work just as well....

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

Fun fact: You would die without the sodium ions in pickle juice and table salt. Pure sodium metal, though, is so reactive it will ignite when placed in water.

I had a chemistry prof in high school who reveled in getting student's attention.

He showed us some Hydrochloric Acid and dissolved a pice of aluminum with it. Then He showed us a strong base - Sodium Hydroxide, and dissolved something with it, all the while lecturing about how dangerous they were.

Then he mixed equal parts in a glass and drank the mixture, made a horrible face, and spit it out into the lab sink, where he had a (unseen to us) nugget of sodium floating in a paper cup, which sank and exploded.

Then he explained all the reactions that went on. Best chemistry lesson I ever had.

My high school chemistry teacher dropped some sodium in water after putting the beaker behind a Plexiglass screen.

On another day, he turned on a gas jet that we usually use for Bunsen burners and bubbled some into a bucket of soapy water. He then scooped up some of the suds, waved his hand over an open flame, and lit the bubbles on fire. The key, he explained, was to keep your hand moving to extinguish the flame quickly.

My chemistry teacher would freak out on our class and go into her office and cry for no apparant reason... I think you guys had cooler chemistry teachers than me.

The demos stopped when he caught us making some mercury fulmonate.

With all the formulas and explosives info floating around here I think I saw a black van outside my house when I took out the cans.

If pickle juice is not your cup of, er, acidic beverage for cramps treatment, try this old-time logger's recipe: 1-2 part apple cider vinegar, 5-10 parts water to suite your taste, flavor with honey ... and you are ready for the effects of a day spent setting chokers in the Coast Range.

My college chemistry teacher is the reason I'm not a doctor! I do remember, however, some fun with aqua regia in high school.