Iodate refuses to intimidate
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - 10:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Like a bull in a china shop, a massive, iodine-based ion called iodate should disrupt the surrounding water molecules until it is forcibly expelled. However, it doesn't. This disconnect between the molecule's attributes and its behavior has puzzled scientists for some time. Scientists at Pacific Northwest and Argonne National Laboratories discovered the secret. While iodate is huge and surrounded by negative oxygen atoms, its central iodine atom takes on a positive character, or becomes a cation. This cationic region draws in water's oxygen atoms and allows the ion to reside peacefully in the liquid.