Must Read: Metals and Their Compounds (Vol 1)

Know The Real Facts About Metals 

Hello to all fortunate readers. You are so fortunate for reading this post. This post is systematically written for the sake of everybody to have the knowledge of the real facts about the metal- sodium. I assured you that by the end of this post, you will have gained and be motivated to carry out something greater than your present expectation.



Most elements are grouped into metals and non-metals. Most metals are solid at room temperature. They possessed high boiling points and high melting points due to existence of the strong metallic bonds in them. They are lustre. They can be hammered. They are good conductors of heat and electricity. However, some metals do not exhibit this properties. For example,

• mercury is liquid at room temperature with a melting point of -39^C,

• sodium and potassium are light, soft metals with low melting points 97^C and 63^C respectively.

Dear, let get started by considering 'Sodium'.

Sodium

Occurrence

Sodium doesn't occur as free metals in nature. It can't be seen everywhere. There are special areas which sodium can be found. It is found in sea water as sodium compounds. It also occurs in borax.

How can we get sodium?

Sodium is not that easy to get. It is extracted from fused sodium chloride ( e.g table salt in our kitchen ) by electrolysis. This process is known as the Downs process. The Downs cell is shown below.

Physical Properties Of Sodium

 Sodium is a silvery solid with metallic lustre. It floats on water. It is soft and malleable. It has low melting point -97^C. It is also a very good conductor of heat and electricity.

Chemical Properties Of Sodium

Dear, sodium tarnishes easily when exposed to the atmosphere. Thus, we always store sodium under paraffin oil, toluene or naphtha to prevent it from tarnishing. Dear, when I heated sodium in air, it burns yellow flame to form sodium peroxide.

Can you imagine that when sodium react with water, heat is violently evolved? Sodium reacts with dilute acid to form hydrogen and salt.

Uses Of Sodium

1. Most of us have visited the airports before. Can you imagine that sodium vapour lamps is used for lighting the airports and also most of our highways? Dear, please gain that today.
2. Dear, the liquid sodium is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors.
3.  Sodium is also employed in the production of lead(iv)tetraethyl which serves as an anti-knock agent in petrol.

Now we are approaching the new dawn- "What are the negative effects of higher intake of sodium?

• Higher sodium intake increases the risk of high blood pressure, and that can lead to other adverse health effects, such as heart disease and stroke.