Ion Channels: Structure and Function. Ion channels are membrane protein complexes and their function is to facilitate the diffusion of ions across biological membranes. Membranes, or phospholipid bilayers, build a hydrophobic, low dielectric barrier to hydrophilic and charged molecules. They are electrical insulators.
The inert gas xenon (chemical symbol Xe) has an atomic number of 54, and it has 54 protons in its nucleus. The number of neutrons varies, however.
Xenon-136 is an isotope of xenon that undergoes double beta decay to barium-136 with a very long half life of 2.11Ã1021 years, more than ten orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe ((13.799Â±0.021)Ã109 years).