Solved cryptogram
Lithium is a metal light enough to float on water, though it reacts with the water as it goes.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.
What it means
Three metals will float rather than sink in water, and lithium is the one that floats highest, at roughly half the density of the liquid it is sitting on. The demonstration is short lived. Lithium strips hydrogen out of water on contact, so the piece fizzes across the surface and shrinks as you watch, leaving an alkaline solution behind.
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This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.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: 74 letters over 16 different ones, graded easy.
- SourceRoyal Society of Chemistry
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultyeasy
- Length74 letters, 16 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 70 letters
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