Solved cryptogram
Sodium metal reacts with water so eagerly that the hydrogen it frees usually catches fire.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.
What it means
The metal is soft enough to cut with a knife and is stored under oil, because contact with damp air is enough to start it going. Dropped into water it strips off the hydrogen, and the reaction releases enough heat to ignite the gas it has just produced. The same element, bonded to chlorine, is the salt on your table and is entirely placid.
The claim comes from Royal Society of Chemistry, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 75 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
- SourceRoyal Society of Chemistry
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length75 letters, 18 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- Royal Society of Chemistryhard, 76 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistryhard, 71 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 77 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 77 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 71 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 75 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 74 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 73 letters