Where does salt go when I stir it into water, and can I get it back?

You stir a spoon through water, and the white grains of salt seem to disappear. Where does salt go when you stir it into water? And can you get it back?

Salt is the tiny, crunchy grains people sprinkle on food. Each grain holds many smaller parts packed together.

Water pulls tiny parts away from the salt grain so they spread through the water. To dissolve means to come apart into parts too small to see that mix into a liquid. Salt can dissolve in water.

Stirring brings more water past the salt grains. That helps the water pull away their tiny parts faster. So your spoon helps the salt dissolve, rather than making it vanish.

The separate parts of salt are too small for your eyes to see. That is why the water can look clear again. Clear water does not always mean nothing else is in it.

Imagine leaving that salty water in a shallow dish until the dish dries. What do you think you would find: nothing at all, or salt? The answer hides in what happens to the water.

You can pour the salty water into a shallow dish to begin getting the salt back. The dish gives the water plenty of room to spread out.

At the surface, tiny bits of water escape into the air as invisible water. Water can leave a dish slowly while it sits on a shelf.

The salt does not escape into the air along with that water. It stays in the dish as the water leaves.

As more water leaves, the salt's tiny parts gather together into grains again. When the dish dries, you can see the salt left behind. It never stopped being salt.

Salt. Dissolve. When you stir salt into water, it can dissolve into tiny parts, and you can get it back by letting the water escape into the air.

You have discovered a quiet surprise: something can slip out of sight and still be right there.