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Does a grain of salt contain tiny pieces of sodium metal?
One grain contains an ordered arrangement of oppositely charged ions.
Na⁺ and Cl⁻ form a repeating ionic structure held together by electrical attractions. These charged constituents are neither sodium metal nor chlorine gas.
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INTERACTIVE 3D8 visible sites
An ionic lattice fragmentDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
The selected solute inventory contains four sodium ions and four chloride ions. Water orientation is shown only in the hydration view.
What this representation means
Original qualitative representations, not a molecular trajectory. Sizes, separation and solvent count are authored; three displayed waters do not establish a hydration number. Lattice connectors are neighbor guides. Concentration is calculated separately from amount and volume.
- Selected ionic inventory
- 4 Na⁺ + 4 Cl⁻ · net charge 0
- Water orientation
- O side toward Na⁺; H side toward Cl⁻
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What does one NaCl formula unit count in the crystal?