Question

Explain how table salt has emergent properties. (See Concept 1.1.)

Answer 1

Step 1: Characteristics of table salt

A white crystalline compound comprised 97-99% of sodium chloride and used extensively in households is known as table salt. The NaCl or table salt can also contain few other chemicals that depend on its source of extraction.

Step 2: Meaning of emergent properties

The properties that develop in the successors and are absent in the predecessors that formed them are known as emergent properties. They are so termed because new properties emerge when simpler parts combine and arrange in a particular pattern. For example, each organelle inside the cell has a specific property, but its compilation forms a cell with emergent properties.

Step 3: Emergent properties of salt

Emergent properties appear as ones that move upward in the hierarchy levels. Table salt also exhibits emergent properties due to the combination of simpler parts that constituted them. 97–99% of table salt is NaCl, which is formed by sodium and chlorine.

Sodium is categorized as a metal, while chlorine is a poisonous gas. Both of these fuse to form a crystalline structure that is edible. Hence, the salt has emergent properties because the final product has different properties from its constituting elements.

Table salt or NaCl is constituted by sodium and chlorine that are non-edible, but their combination produces an edible substance. This is the emergent property of salt as it differs in odor, density, arrangement, and more from its constituents.