Sodium :: essays research papers

Life could not exist without compounds of sodium. These compounds holdwater in body tissues, and a severe deficiency of sodium can defecate death.Blood contains sodium compounds in solution. Sodium compounds are used inindustry in the manufacture of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, in metallurgy,in sodium vapour lamps, and in the production of hundreds of every dayproducts. One of the well-nigh greenness sodium compounds is table salt, or sodiumchloride. In its pure exploit sodium is a silver-white, soft and waxy metallicelement. It is the sixth most abundant element on Earth and occurs in morethat pursue amounts in the stars and sun.The secret that led to low-cost production was learned in 1789, when theFrench chemist Nicolas Leblanc discovered how to make daddy out of frequentsalt. The compound called soda is sodium carbonate. Crude sodium carbonateis called soda ash. The carbonate also combines with water in crystals knownas slipstream soda, or sal soda. Soda is used in man ufacturing soap, glass,dyestuffs, and explosives and as the basis for fashioning other sodium compounds.Other sodium compounds, with some of their uses, are cook soda(sodiumbicarbonate), an ingredient of baking powder borax (sodium borate), a foodpreservative and vinegarish soda, or lye (sodium hydroxide), used insoapmaking. Some properties of sodium are emblem Na, Atomic Number 11,Atomic Weight 22.9898, Boiling Point 1,621.2 F, and liquescent Point 208.06 F.Sodium belongs to the group of elements known as alkali metals. It is neverfound uncombined in nature and was first isolated by the English scientistSir Humphry Davy in 1807. Lighter than water, pure sodium can be cut with aknife at room temperature and is brittle at low temperatures. It conductsheat and electricity easily and exhibits a photoelectric effect, that is, itemits electrons when opened to light. In its pure form, sodium oxidizes