[eli5] how do vegetables like carrots have salt in them?

Question

Is there salt in the soil that the plant absorbs? If I understand chemistry even a little bit, you would need to have sodium present in the ground at least, right?

In: 0

Answer 1

Yes, you need to have sodium in the ground. Water dissolves the salt and that water is absorbed by the carrot. The carrot then grabs onto the salt in some way to use it for whatever internal carroty purposes carrots have for sodium.

Some vegetables have less, and some have more, but this is where they all get any natural sodium they have.