How is it that table salt (sodium chloride) disappears when dissolved in water?
Sodium chloride is iconic:
A union of two ions ionic.
Poor chlorine’s an electron short;
But sodium, a generous sort,
Has one electron going spare
And hands it over – what a pair!
Thus, lightly bound, their charge is nil,
And stays that stable way that way until
They find themselves in H2O –
Then their true natures start to show . . .
And that’s because, as you might know,
Each molecule of H2O
Is ‘polar’, with the oxygen
More negative – but then again,
Both hydrogens appear somewhat
More positive about their lot.
That’s how those molecules achieve,
With no net charge, their power to heave
The atoms in ionic salts*
Apart; so, under such assaults,
They have no choice but to become
Quite separate ions, every one.
The water molecules around
These new-formed ions now surround
Each one, and sturdily deter
Recombination as they were:
And that is how the problem’s solved
Of how, when table salt’s dissolved,
However closely you have peered,
Those salty grains have disappeared!
* A salt is the products of reactions between an acid and a base.