Skip to main content

Add Salt to taste, but it is not that easy

Image
By

“It is already getting too hot. It is mid-March and it feels like we are up for a super-hot summer. I am already thinking of monsoons.”, said my mom in a casual conversation. My sister, who was visiting us with her daughter, raised another point. “Monsoons are just as worse with all the potholes on the road and traffic jams all around.”, she has a valid point. The conversation took a different direction and we started discussing what we don’t like about rainy season. I and my father were in complete agreement with my sister about the potholes and traffic jam as we were the most impacted people in the family by these.
However, my six-and-a-half-year-old niece who loves to play in the rains and has her own dedicated driver (read her father) has a completely different problem for rainy season. She was busy with her coloring book and without raising her head, she said in her cute voice, “Baarish mein namak nahi nikalta dibbi se” (the salt does not come out of sprinkler in rains). Well, my sister was visibly happy at her daughter’s observation and intelligence and everyone in the family was impressed.
Salt is a hygroscopic substance

A genuine monsoon problem, right? The salt in the sprinkler on the table turns to lumps. Let us try to understand the reason behind this.
The reason corresponds to a phenomenon of a substance attracting the water molecules from the atmosphere and normal room temperatures. This is known as “Hygroscopy” and the substances that attract or absorb the water from atmosphere are known as hygroscopic.
The hygroscopic substances, when absorbing the water from atmosphere, might change physically a little. For example, the salt changes from its powder form to lump form. This is because the salt is so hygroscopic that it tends to get dissolved in the water it attracts from atmosphere.
Though causing a problem to my niece (and to us as well), this property of hygroscopy is helpful at times as well. The hygroscopic substances are added to some food products to maintain the moisture content.
Nerd Note 1: A hygroscopic substance added to other material for purpose of maintaining moisture content is called humectant.
Nerd Note 2: the property of a substance of dissolving easily in the water they absorb from atmosphere is called deliquescence.
Nerd Note 3: Some more example of such substances are: concentrated sulfuric acid, cotton, paper, and many chloride salts.
Nerd Note 4: Hygroscopic sounds very similar to the word hydroscopic which is completely unrelated. Hydroscope is an optical device. Tell us in comments if you know what it is used for.
So, next monsoon, when you see someone struggling to sprinkle salt on their food, smile silently because now you know why.
And as always, thanks for reading.
Ayush!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vaccines: Deciphering the magical potion

By
"I wonder why scientists are not able to create a vaccine for a virus which can be killed by a 10 rupees soap!", read one of the memes over the pandemic. The message made me laugh and feel sad at the same time. The last few months have been tragic, fearful, and chaotic…to say the least. The world has been in the grip of a virus, with lock-downs enforced in numerous countries. The cases are heading north with no respite in the near future. Vaccine has been a topic of discussion in recent times. Though theories on vaccines being in different stages of development are doing rounds, it is highly unlikely that one will be available for general use by the end of 2020. Though, I sincerely wish it does. But do you know how vaccines work? How do they create a protective shield around our body? And how did the name 'vaccine' come into existence? Continue reading. How was the name 'Vaccine' coined? Let us commence by reading about the word itself. 'Vaccine...
13 comments
Read more

GO! GO! GO! H2O... Climb up the tree. 🌊 🍀

By
One of the daily chores assigned to me by wife is 'watering the plants'. Quite fond of plants, I have happily taken up the task and do it religiously, every morning. My mom too has a penchant for gardening. We even had a 'kitchen garden' at our home in Agra, boasting of vegetables such as Cauliflower, Spinach, Radish, Beans, Tomato. I along with my younger brothers, Kushagra & Mayank, were given the onus of watering our organically produced veggies & at times, scare away the monkeys from destroying or rather savouring our prized cultivation. Prized it was, as to every guest who came to our house, it was sort of mandatory to showcase them our vegetable garden. The green chutni made from home grown coriander really had a distinct flavour and aroma, much to our delight and guests envy 😋. Good old days. I'm getting nostalgic! Cutting back to the present day, on a pleasant and cool morning in Bangalore, I was watering the two beans climbers, which are clos...
30 comments
Read more

Rain Rain, fall again - The Cloud Seeding poem

By
"Bengaluru witnesses the driest April since 1983". "Dubai floods in April 2024 take the lives of 4 people." I came across these headlines a few weeks back. Though contrasting and bewildering these sound, the anomalies, sadly, are the truth of the times. However, with rain finally coming in Bengaluru this month, the city again witnessed water deluge in several areas. It reminded me of the 2022 floods in the Indian Silicon valley. But yes, it brought much respite from the hot weather. Ironically, people prayed for rain to keep at bay during the much anticipated and climactic CSK v/s RCB match on 18th May. And the GODS didn’t disappoint the devout at all. The epic clash will be remembered for time to come, for the reasons known to one and all. The very next day, it rained cats and dogs; washing out our society cricket tournament (thankfully, we have a reserve day ahead!!). Never ever since my childhood, I had ever wished rain to stop, and with that fervour last Sunday....
4 comments
Read more