The Salty Chemistry of Kitchen Salt in Water

[Carlos Gouveia]

Kitchen salt is soluble in water. Whenever this happens, molecules of NaCl dissociate into the two chemical entities that form such molecule, the cation Na+ and the anion Cl-. Suppose I dissolve some amount of NaCl in water. Then I pour part of this solution into another glass. Is it possible that such operation might cause some ion unbalance, I mean, in the end one of the glasses might contain more Na+ cations than Cl- anions, or vice versa? Because cations and anions are chaotically/randomly dispersed in water, right? Therefore, more Na+ than Cl- ions may pass from the first to the second glass.

Not sure if I made myself clear, but that's my question. Thanks for any light shed on this matter.

 

[Borek]

Yes, it is possible. However, these differences are so small we can safely assume both parts are electrically neutral. Charges accumulated due to friction are much larger.