Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #51 Ion analogy

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #51

Today we'll have an SAT type of analogy.

Calcium is to magnesium as

A. Sodium is to potassium
B. Potassium is to sodium
C. Chloride is to bromide
D. Chloride is to iodide

I have a specific, single answer in mind, but since these types of questions may have more than one answer, please give your reasoning, whatever it may be.

Good luck!














.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Im going to choose C. My reasoning is that after Sodium Chloride, a couple of the most common sea salts are Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Bromide. I gather this is just a hunch due to me not finding any corroborating sources.

 

[Galvinized]

If I had to have a stab in the dark i would pick C.

The simple answer would be: because its the opposite of the analogy.

I base this on the placement of the elements on the periodic table, its the only pair that match while still having one thing in common. they both lose/gain the same amount of valance electrons. you could say the same applies to D but in the analogy we only moved one period up, and on the reverse we are only moving one period down.

I'm properly way off the mark and thinking too deeply into it but thats how my mind has connected the dot's.

 

[DRThompson]

B:if we are looking at the periodic table

 

[reggaedrummin]

My guess is C and I think it has to do with the way that one can displace the other in seawater though I've searched and searched and cannot find anything substantial on the topic...so I guess my real answer is, I saw SAT, panicked, and chose C so I could move on without running out of time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

.so I guess my real answer is, I saw SAT, panicked, and chose C so I could move on without running out of time.

:lol:

Always a good strategy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anyone else what to try before I give the answer?

 

[beaslbob]

calcium is to magnesium as sodium is to potassium

all are or have cloride forms available and calcium has is more prevelant then magnesium as sodium is more prevelant than potassium.

All are salts?

how should i know. chemcistry was long time ago.

 

[Steven@]

A...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

And the answer is....B. Potassium is to sodium (at least that's what I was looking for, other answers can also be correct)

As DRThompson pointed out, the periodic table is a big clue:

Calcium (Ca), being just below magnesium (Mg), has similar chemistry to magnesium (both have a +2 charge in seawater, for example), and is higher in molecular weight.

So looking just to their left we see potassium (K, yes, its a tricky symbol ), with similar chemistry to sodium (Na) (both have a +1 charge in seawater, for example) and is higher in molecular weight than sodium.

Happy Reefing!

 

[reggaedrummin]

Well... when you put it that way, it's pretty simple!

 

[beaslbob]

oh dern!!!!

 

[Cory]

And the answer is....B. Potassium is to sodium (at least that's what I was looking for, other answers can also be correct)

As DRThompson pointed out, the periodic table is a big clue:

Calcium (Ca), being just below magnesium (Mg), has similar chemistry to magnesium (both have a +2 charge in seawater, for example), and is higher in molecular weight.

So looking just to their left we see potassium (K, yes, its a tricky symbol ), with similar chemistry to sodium (Na) (both have a +1 charge in seawater, for example) and is higher in molecular weight than sodium.

Happy Reefing!

I picked the right answer! But was a guess. When you say it has a plus 2 charge, what does this mean as a mental image? I'm imagining that the electron/s is moving faster than a plus 1 charge. What do you see?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, you can visualyl see anything because it is too small.

But if you could...

Calcium and magnesium metal with no charge have two electrons (each carryign one negative charge) that are orbiting farther out from the nucleus than all the other electrons.

If you strip away those two (give them to another atom, for example), that leaves the +2 charge on what remains, and all of the remaining electrons move in closer to the nucleus in tighter orbits.

Sodium and potassium each have only one of these higher energy electrons to strip away before all the other electrons hunker down tighter.

 

[Cory]

Thanks. Have you ever see. Walter Russels work? I thought it was an interesting organization of atoms. Just google image search Walter russel.

 

[Cory]

No thoughts? Some think it's peudoscince.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The few sentences I read on wikipedia on him didn't look promising.

from example...

"He posited that the universe was founded on a unifying principle of rhythmic balanced interchange."

 

[Cory]

I know what he wrote Is not accepting of science, but I like how he made a sort of new perixide table.

I also like this one, which is not Walter Russels:

Periodic Table Database | Chemogenesis

What do you think about that periodic table?

 

[Cory]

This is Walter Russels perodic table:

Periodic Table Database | Chemogenesis

Sorry if I'm off topic!

 

[Cory]

I made a mistake the first two posted are Walter Russels but in the first I meant to post this one:
Our Electric Universe... & Anti-Gravity | Human beings have an infinite ability to rationalise the status quo. Robert Harrison