Word: sodium
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...first atomic bomb. Packed into 37 tubes of heat-resistant nickel alloy, the fuel is mixed with zirconium hydride, which acts as a moderator, slowing down the high-energy neutrons released by fissioning atoms of U 235. The heat of the reactor is carried away by a sodium-potassium alloy (NaK) that turns to liquid at 48°F. A beryllium reflector 2½ in. thick bounces escaping neutrons back into the uranium and keeps the reactor operating. When four openings in the reflector are uncovered, neutrons leak away, slowing or stopping the nuclear reaction...
Died. Dr. William Bleckwenn, 69, University of Wisconsin neuropsychia-trist who, while experimenting with drugs in 1929, found that a common barbiturate, sodium amytal, if administered intravenously instead of in sleeping-pill capsule form, often acted as a "truth serum" that proved of value in the treatment of mental patients until supplanted recently by other drugs; in Winter Haven...
Pulp & Chlorine. To brominate wood pulp, Dr. Lewin simply adds sodium bromide, which is as stable as table salt, to the solution in a standard bleaching apparatus, then bubbles chlorine through it. The combination of chemicals releases active bromine in a form that attaches itself to the lignin in the pulp. Treating solid wood is a more complicated process, but the results are spectacular. When a piece of brominated wood is put in a hot fire, it does not burn. After a while, a layer of carbon forms on its surface, but carbonization stops as soon as the wood...
Faltering Kidneys. Sodium bicarbonate is at once the commonest, cheapest, most misused and most dangerous of antacids. In normal people, an occasional half-teaspoon in half a glass of water will probably do no harm. But a teaspoonful of bicarb in half a glass of water is enough to neutralize highly acid stomach contents, with some bicarb left over. The leftover can be dangerous, particularly to a person with an unsuspected kidney ailment. The excess bicarb is absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the small bowel, causing excessive alkalinity in the blood. It is the kidneys...
Helping Steak. Nearly all physicians now avoid sodium bicarbonate. The most up-to-date thinkers among them are coming to the conclusion that the best neutralizer for excess stomach acid is nature's neutralizer-food. They prescribe small meals about every three hours. It matters little, they say, what the ulcer patient eats-he may have steak and French fries with catchup and a cucumber salad with vinegar dressing-provided only that he eats a little at a time and often. The tide has turned against the insipid Sippy diet of milk and light cream: doctors are beginning...