Ionic Compound Information
Ionic Compound Selected: Sodium Chloride (NaCl)
Why did you select this Ionic Compound? I really like salt, and I use it everyday on almost all my food. I thought it would be interesting to research the chemical compounds that makes up table salt.
How is this Ionic Compound important/relevant to your life? I use table salt nearly everyday, similarly to most people, in cooking and eating.
Facts on the METAL in your Compound
Source Title: Live Science: Facts About Sodium
MLA Citation: Live Science Staff. "Facts About Sodium." Livescience.com. Live Science, 17 Apr. 2013. Web.
- From the Medieval Latin, sodanum, a headache remedy, and the English word soda.
- Sodium's chemical symbol comes from the Latin word for sodium carbonate, natrium.
- Sodium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1807 using electrolysis of caustic soda, although it had been long recognized in compounds.
- Sodium is the most abundant of the alkali group of metals.
- It may or may not ignite spontaneously on water, depending on the amount of oxide and metal exposed to the water.
- Like every reactive element, sodium is never found free in nature.
- Sodium is fairly abundant in the sun and stars.
- It is the fourth most abundant element on Earth, comprising about 2.6 percent of the planet's crust.
- Sodium is a soft, bright, silvery metal that floats on water.
- Decomposition in water results in the evolution of hydrogen and the formation of the hydroxide.
Facts on the NONMETAL in your Compound
Source Title: Live Science: Facts About Chlorine
MLA Citation: Live Science Staff. "Facts About Chlorine." Livescience.com. Live Science, 23 Apr. 2013. Web.
- The word chlorine comes from the Greek word chloro (greenish yellow).
- Chlorine was discovered in 1774 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who believed it contained oxygen. In 1810, Humphry Davy named it as an element.
- Chlorine is a member of the halogen (salt-forming) group of elements.
- It is a greenish-yellow gas that is capable of combining directly with nearly all elements.
- Chlorine is a respiratory irritant.
- Its gas irritates mucus membranes and the liquid burns the skin.
- Small amounts of chlorine (as little as 3.5 ppm) can be smelled, and inhaling 1,000 ppm for a few deep breaths can be fatal.
- In nature, chlorine is only found in a combined state.
- It is commonly used as an oxidizing agent and as a substitution for hydrogen.
- It can bring together many desired properties in an organic compound.
Facts on the Ionic Compound
Source Title: Encyclopedia.com: Sodium Chloride
MLA Citation: "sodium chloride". The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2014. Encyclopedia.com. 6 Oct. 2014. Web.
- Sodium chloride is readily soluble in water and insoluble or only slightly soluble in most other liquids.
- Sodium chloride is odorless but has a characteristic taste.
- It forms small, transparent, colorless to white cubic crystals.
- It is an ionic compound, being made up of equal numbers of positively charged sodium and negatively charged chloride ions.
- When it is melted or dissolved in water the ions can move about freely, so that dissolved or molten sodium chloride is a conductor of electricity; it can be decomposed into sodium and chlorine by passing an electrical current through it.
- Salt is widely and abundantly distributed in nature.
- Salt is mined from deposits or is obtained as a brine by introducing water into the deposits to dissolve the salt and then pumping the solution to the surface.
- Salt is also obtained by evaporation of seawater, usually in shallow basins warmed by sunlight; salt so obtained was formerly called bay salt, and is now often called sea salt or solar salt. Most salt for table use is obtained from seawater.
- It is an essential part of the diet of both humans and animals and is a part of most animal fluids, such as blood, sweat, and tears.
- Salt is widely used as a seasoning for foods and is used in curing meats and preserving fish and other foods.