Grade 9 Science Journal (2022)

As we have known for some time now, the periodic table is commonly used by chemists to organize and understand the elements on it and how they work. And while there is a long list of great things the elements on the periodic table can do for us, some of them can also really harm us and our environment. And this is what I will be discussing in this post. How sodium, iodine, and magnesium harm our water and all the life in it.

For starters I need to discuss my ecological issue, Coral being affected by climate change, and how it’s being affected by periodic elements being in the water. now coral is a sea creature, So, if our oceans and rivers are all nasty and metal filled that can stress the coral even more than it already is due to the change in water temperature, causing it to die at an even faster rate. Which is why we need to keep our waters clean for all of the sea life, as coral is a big home for a lot of them.

Sodium has been washed up from rocks and soils for hundreds of years, ending up bodies of water, especially oceans, where it can stay for up to 50 years. Seawater has about 11,000ppm (parts per million) of sodium while rivers only have about 9ppm. There are two definitions of sodium that I want to discuss in this post, and those two are sodium salt and sodium metal. When mixed with water, sodium salt makes a clear solution that tastes- well, salty. Sodium salt isn’t doing anything bad for us or the animals if you take it in small doses, it’s just kind of drying for our hair and skin. Now, sodium metal is different story. When put in water sodium metal begins to heat the water up, making bubbles that you would see in a pot of water when cooking, it starts to release steam, and eventually catch fire. The fire can’t be put out with water because you know, the water is on fire. Now if too much sodium metal gets put into the water it can explode. you can see this in the video, Ms. Faulkner’s 9th grade class experimenting with water and metal sodium gone wrong.

Iodine can come as a “lustrous metallic gray solid” (according to Wikipedia) and is naturally occurring in nature. The average amount of iodine found in seawater is about 60 ppb (parts per billion) compared to rivers which have an average of about 5 ppb of iodine. Brown algae can also have iodine in it, up to 45% (in dry mass), but iodine cnd be found in all sorts of coral, sea sponges, shells and fishes. When reacting with water, Iodine is a water hazard: class 1. So, it’s not the biggest threat when dissolved on its own, but when mixed with alkali metals (example. mercury, aluminum, or Florine) there can be a higher risk. As for how we react it Iodine. It is important but dangerous to us as it can be very toxic, but in moderation it helps with the production of thyroid hormones. The recommended daily intake of iodine is between 150-200 μg. This intake is usually hit by eating kitchen salt, which has iodine added to it. However, having it contact the skin may cause pigmentation, fumes can cause eye and lung irritation. And testing done on rats has proven that iodine may influence female fertility, However its not been proven certain. 

Magnesium can end up in oceans or rivers in a few ways, one of which is in minerals that have been washed up from rocks and ends up in the oceans, about 1300 ppm of magnesium is found in seawater while rivers have about 4ppm of magnesium. In oceans, it is the second most common cation after sodium. Marine algae can have 6000-20,000ppm and oysters can contain about 1200ppm. Magnesium and other alkali metals are the reason for water hardness. Water holding large amounts of alkali earth ions is called “hard water”. Magnesium doesn’t react to water at room temperature, but when mixed with other things, it’s known as a slow-reacting element. However, reactivity increases with oxygen levels. Magnesium fires can’t be put out with water, and it continues to burn after the oxygen in the area is gone.

Water treatment solutions. Lenntech Water treatment & purification. (n.d.). https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/magnesium/magnesium-and-water.htm

Water treatment solutions. Lenntech Water treatment & purification. (n.d.-b). https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/magnesium/magnesium-and-water.htm

Water treatment solutions. Lenntech Water treatment & purification. (n.d.-a). https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/sodium/sodium-and-water.htm