Reef Chemistry Puzzle #16 I shine

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Reef Chemistry Puzzle #16

Three clues today:
1. I can be very shiny, but few reefers see that side of me
2. I am among the most abundant ions in seawater
3. The American Heart Association seem to have a grudge against me

What am I?

Good luck!



Previous Reef Chemistry Puzzle

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-chemistry-puzzle-15-the-ates.1030996/

 

[feelingfishy]

Iodine?

 

[eleslie3]

Na

 

[feelingfishy]

Yea I’m way off

 

[BeanAnimal]

I also say Sodium

 

[Troylee]

Chloride..

 

[Tony Thompson]

Na

 

[rhitee93]

I'll jump on the sodium bandwagon.

 

[shakacuz]

I'll jump on the sodium bandwagon.

same!

chloride is definitely a good guess as well.

 

[danimal1211]

Sodium

 

[feelingfishy]

Yea I’m way off

Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another

 

[dennis romano]

Na

 

[KrisReef]

Gotta be nicotine and cigarette butts but everyone else is responding; “Na” to this one. Sodium burns brightly too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

And the answer is...

1. I can be very shiny, but few reefers see that side of me
2. I am among the most abundant ions in seawater
3. The American Heart Association seem to have a grudge against me

What am I?

Sodium. Good job, folks! :)

Pure sodium is a shiny metal, like unrusted steel. But it is soft, and it reacts strongly with water to form hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide.

Na + H2O --> NaOH + 1/2 H2 (gas)

Chemists used to use it frequently in the lab to do something called the sodium fusion test to look for other elements in an unknown sample, and in that case, it often came as pellets stored under oil to keep water and oxygen from getting to it.

Sodium is the second most abundant ion in seawater, after chloride (19,000 ppm), at ~10,800 ppm. They are actually much closer than that in terms of the number of ions (1.16 chloride per sodium), but chloride weighs substantially more per ion, so its weight based ratio is much higher (1.8 chloride weight to sodium weight).

The presence of excess sodium in most peoples diets can lead to high blood pressure and other effects that drive the American Heart Association to say:

"Americans consume far too much sodium"

Happy Reefing, and don't drink the water!

 

[eleslie3]

YAY! I finally got the correct answer to a puzzle. At least I am absorbing information :squinting-face-with-tongue:

 

[TokenReefer]

Pure sodium is a shiny metal, like unrusted steel. But it is soft, and it reacts strongly with water to form hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide.

So cool!