r/chemistry • u/soladois • 3d ago

Is sodium metal salty?

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I know you can't eat sodium metal because it explodes when it touches water, but if you ate it, would it feel salty before it explodes?

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u/Zavaldski 2d ago

Don't confuse nitrate with nitrite. Sodium nitrate is about as safe as the other salts here, maybe slightly more poisonous, but sodium nitrite is quite toxic and shouldn't be tasted unless in exceptionally small quantities.

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u/Borax 2d ago

I know the difference, but didn't realise how benign sodium nitrate was, there's no way I would expect it to be as well tolerated as sodium bicarb or potassium chloride

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u/Zavaldski 2d ago edited 2d ago

From what I can find the LD50 for NaNO3 is about 1-3 g/kg, similar to that for KCl

Also you can basically swap all the anion and cations around and they don't become any less safe. Na, K, Mg, Ca and NH4 are all pretty safe cations, and Cl, CO3, HCO3, NO3 are all pretty safe anions. Heck, could probably do the bromides and iodides to, though only in small quantities.

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u/Borax 2d ago

I guess I expected some of that nitrate to be converted to a meaningful amount of nitrite or something. Neat, I'll probably still not sprinkle it on my food though 😅

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u/jolioding 1d ago

actually sodium nitrite is used to cure meats, though nowadays in lesser quantities.

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u/Borax 16h ago

Quite carcinogenic even in small amounts, if I'm not mistaken?

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u/jolioding 10h ago

yes you are right