Sodium salts and compounds can be put to a multitude of other uses, such as soap making, food preservation, vapour lamps, a desiccant and as a de-icing agent.Īnd that, folks, is sodium, one of the most used and essential elements on Earth.Ĭome back next month, when we’ll be taking a close look at Germanium.Sodium metal can be used as a heat exchanger in certain nuclear reactors and is generally used in the chemicals industry.Although it is a metal, when at room temperature sodium can be cut through with a butter knife!.In fact, sodium is also critical to the function of the human nervous system and to muscular contractions. It is not found as a pure metal in nature due to its highly reactive nature. In humans, sodium is essential to cellular function for many reasons to maintain fluid balance in the cells and the rest of the body, and for the absorption of nutrients such as glucose. Sodium is a soft, easily tarnished, alkali metal. Sodium is an essential element for the nutrition of animals, people and some plants, and humans have known this since prehistoric times.The colour is so bright that it is not usually used with others because it masks them. Another explosive fact: the use of sodium in fireworks is what gives them the gold or yellow colour.It is a highly reactive element: as a pure element sodium has to be kept under oil or kerosene – when exposed to water it ignites.Although shiny and beautiful, sodium tarnishes within a few seconds when it is exposed to the air.Sodium ions have therefore been seeping out of the earth’s minerals for eons. This is due to the fact that sodium is highly water soluble. On top of being highly abundant in the Earth’s crust, sodium and chloride also happen to be the most common dissolved elements (as measured by weight) in the oceans.Despite this, it comprises of about 2.6% of the Earth’s crust, making it the most abundant alkali metal and the sixth most abundant element on Earth, where it exists in minerals such as rocksalt, feldspars, and sodalite.As a free metal, sodium does not exist in nature and must be prepared from its compounds, which have been used for centuries.Cooled Carousel 6 Plus Reaction Station.Cooled Carousel 12 Plus Reaction Station.Rotary vane pumps and chemistry-HYBRID pumps.Classic Open Bath and Circulation Thermostats.Neither element occurs separately and free in nature, but are found bound. The metal is also used for the manufacture of high-capacity batteries. Chemically, table salt consists of two elements, sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Sodium is often used as a reducer in metallurgy and a drying agent of organic solvents (for example esters) in organic synthesis. The free metal does not occur in nature, and must be prepared from compounds. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. helps chemist understanding how elements form chemical. Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin natrium) and atomic number 11. The “connection” of formed carbohydrate radicals takes place with formation of a longer molecule – the two ethyl radicals CH₃-CH₂- connect, forming the n-butane molecule CH₃-CH₂-CH₂-CH₃). Electron Configuration Notation: -shows the arrangment of electrons around the nucleus of an atom. Sodium breaks bromine atoms off molecules of bromine ethyl. Sodium is also used to extend carbohydrate chains in the Wurtz reaction:ĬH₃-CH₂-Br + Br-CH₂-CH₃ + 2Na = CH₃-CH₂-CH₂-CH₃ + 2NaBr. Sodium has also found an application in organic chemistry – it is used to obtain alcoholates from alcohols:ĢC₂H₅OH + 2Na = 2C₂H₅ONa + H₂ (from absolute (waterless) ethanol, sodium ethylate C₂H₅ONa forms). The members of the alkali metals family are among the most active elements. Reactions of sodium with organic materials Here you’ll find an interesting experiment with ammonia solution. Na + 4NH₃ = Na₄ (reaction with formation of tetra sodium amide takes place in cold – cooling to -40 ᵒC (also -40 ᵒF)). dissolving sodium in liquid ammonium:.reaction of sodium with ammonium gas:ĢNa + 2NH₃ = 2NaNH₂ + H₂ (sodium amide forms with heating to 350 ᵒC, or 662 ᵒF).With ammonia 2 types of reaction are possible:
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