Sodium

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Sodium within oil
(Credit: Periodic Table)
Atomic Number: 11
Relative Mass: 22.99
Group: 1
Period: 3
Block: S

Sodium is a soft, light and an extremely malleable metallic element. It reacts explosively with water. If you weren't lucky to see this reaction at your school - Click Here. The photo on the left is a photo of sodium which has been cut within some oil. Without the oil being there, the shiny sides of the sliver metal will oxidise.
Naturally, sodium is abundant. It is Earth's 6th most common element. It makes up 2.6% of the Earth's crust. Sodium is practically common as a salt. A salt, in chemistry, is basically a chemical compound which is formed when an acid reacts with a base (or an alkali). In the case of Sodium, it's most common compound is Sodium Chloride - table salt.

This is salt - otherwise known is Sodium Chloride, NaCl
Sodium was discovered by English chemist called Sir Humphry Davis in the year 1807. He isolated the element by the process electrolysis. I have mentioned electrolysis before in this blog series, I mentioned it first within my Lithium post. But, electrolysis is the process of separating elements from ores by the uses of electricity. Electrolysis was first used by the scientist Alessandro Volta in his work for the first battery and Davis used this procedure to isolate metals. Potassium was the first isolated by Sir Humphry Davis. Then sodium followed. But, he didn't just stop with Sodium though - We'll see Sir Humphry Davis again when looking at the metals;
  • Potassium
  • Calcium
  • Strontium
  • Barium
  • Magnesium
... And the non-metal - Iodine.

Sir Humphry Davis invented the field of electrochemistry. He was considered as one of Britain's leading scientist and was knighted in 1812. 

Sir Humphry Davis
(Credit: Wikipedia)
Sodium's name derives from the English word soda. It comes from the work that Sir Humphry Davis did as he used caustic soda or Sodium carbonate in his electrolysis method.
The symbol which represents Sodium is Na. That originated from the Latin name for sodium which is Natrium. The Greeks also had a word for sodium - Nitron, which means a natural salt.

It wasn't just one chemist who tried to isolate Sodium. A pair of chemists, Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jacques Thenard got sodium by another method. They heated a mixture of caustic soda (NaCO3 - Sodium Carbonate) and iron filings to a temperature known as red heat. 

It's Biological Uses

Sodium is an element which is essential to all living things - Humans have known this fact since the prehistorical times. We have 100 grams of Sodium within our bodies. But, sodium is always being lost in bodily fluids like sweat or urine. So it needs replacing. Averagely every adult eats around 10g sodium daily... That's if no more salt or sauce is added to the food. The thing is we only need 3g of sodium which is 6g of table salt. Sodium is used for many different functions within the body - all important for the body to survive. 

Sodium's Body Functions
  • Transmit nerve signals
  • Regulates water levels in the tissues and bloods
It's Uses
  • It is used as a heat exchanger in certain nuclear reactors.
    • These are called Sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and are generation IV reactors
  • Sodium Chloride is the most common sodium salt used.
    • It is added to food
    • Placed on the road, as part as grit, to de-icy the roads
    • It's used as a feedstock for chemical industries
  • Sodium Carbonate, or washing soda, is used as a water softener
Definitions

Electrolysis - A way to chemical decompose a product (in this case - Sodium) by passing an electric current through a liquid or a solution which contains ions
Feedstock - a raw material to supply or fuel a machine/industry process
Oxidised - to chemically combine with Oxygen
Red Heat - A temperature or a state when the substance (in this case - Soda) so hot that it emits red light or glow

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