sodium

Sodium (Na)

Sodium is a soft, bright, silvery metal that is less dense than water, which means it floats on water. The melting point, which is when an element changes from a solid to a liquid, is 98 degrees Celsius. The boiling point, which is when something changes from a liquid to a gas, is 883 degrees Celsius. Sodium only ignites or catches on fire at temperatures higher than 115 degrees Celsius.

[|Sodium] has 11 protons and electrons. Protons are positively charged particles in the nucleus (center) of the atom. Electrons are negatively charged particles that move around the nucleus of the atom. Sodium also has 12 neutrons, Neutrons are particles in the nucleus that have no charge, they are neutral. The atomic number for Sodium is 11. An atomic number is the number of protons in the atom, so sodium has 11 protons. The atomic mass for sodium is 23. The atomic mass of an atom is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the atom.

Sodium was discovered in 1807 in London, UK. But, the ancient Egyptians used it long before it was “discovered”. The ancient Egyptians used it for cleaning the house and body and they used it for mummification. After the time of the Egyptians, in 1807, a scientist named Sir Humphrey Davy discovered it by electrolysis of caustic soda. Electrolysis is a method that many scientists use to separate or isolate an element. Caustic soda is sodium hydroxide, which is a metallic base. So what Humphrey Davy did was separate caustic soda, a combination of sodium so that he ended up with just the element of sodium.

Sodium is found in table salts and other foods and in the sun and stars and has many important uses today. Sodium is used as [|salt] (sodium chloride), soda ash (a type of sodium salt), baking soda, which is used with cooking and caustic soda, which is sodium hydroxide (a metallic base). It is also used in different kinds of medicines. It’s also extremely necessary for you body because it does transmission of electrical impulses and regulation of water content in tissue and blood, sodium is essential for all living things. Thank you for reading about sodium and I hope you learned a lot.

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