Soap is generally a sodium salt of certain fatty acids. Sodium compounds are important to the paper, glass, soap, textile, petroleum, chemical, and metal industries.

The metal may be used to improve the structure of certain alloys, descale metal, and purify molten metals.Īn alloy of sodium with potassium, NaK, is an important heat transfer agent. Metallic sodium is vital in the manufacture of esters and in the preparation of organic compounds. It normally does not ignite in air at temperatures below 115☌. It may or may not ignite spontaneously on water, depending on the amount of oxide and metal exposed to the water. Decomposition in water results in the evolution of hydrogen and the formation of the hydroxide. Sodium is a soft, bright, silvery metal which floats on water. Sodium, like every reactive element, is never found free in nature. The most common compound is sodium chloride (table salt), but it occurs in many other minerals, such as soda niter, cryolite, amphibole, zeolite, etc. This method is much cheaper than that of electrolyzing sodium hydroxide, as was used several years ago.

It is now obtained commercially by the electrolysis of absolutely dry fused sodium chloride. Sodium is the fourth most abundant element on earth, comprising about 2.6% of the earth's crust it is the most abundant of the alkali group of metals. The D lines of sodium are among the most prominent in the solar spectrum. Sodium is present in fair abundance in the sun and stars. Long recognized in compounds, sodium was first isolated by Davy in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic soda. Sodium is a soft, bright, silvery metal which floats on water.įrom the English word, soda Medieval Latin, sodanum: a headache remedy.

Na element electron