SODIUM

HISTORY

• Discovered in 1807
• In London at the Royal Inststution
• By Sir Humphrey Davy
• Found by running an electric current through a liquid
• Used the element to produce other metals

FINDING THE NAME

• Got Sodium because Davy used caustic soda to isolate it
• Sodiums symbol comes from the Latin word for sodium carbonate natrium
• Which is where they get the symbol Na
• Natrium means headache remedy

PROPERTIES OF SODIUM

• surface is bright when first cut but quickly becomes dull as sodium reacts with oxygen in the air
• It is soft enough to be cut with a knife
• silvery-white metal with a waxy appearance
• melting point is 97.82°C
• boiling point is 881.4°C

PROPERTIES CONT.

• At Room temperature it's a solid
• Atomic Number 11
• Atomic Weight: 22.99
• Density 0.97 grams/cubic centimeter
• Part of the Alkali Metals family

USES OF SODIUM

• You use table salt everyday in your food
• Sodium is a key ingredient when making soaps
• Sodium is responsible for ghe glow of street lights
• Baking soda, soda ash, castic soda, borax
• production of titanium, sodamide, sodium cyanide

SOURCES

• Sodium is the sixth most abundant element
• About 2.6 - 3.0% in the earths crust is sodium
• $25/100g
• The most common form of sodium is halite which is mined
• Sodium is never found as a pure substance in nature

OTHER INFO

• 6th most abundant metal
• Alone it is explosive
• Combined with chlorine-table salt
• Crucial for blood-pressure control
• Helps the function of the nervous system