Sodium is a soft, reactive, and malleable metal that is the sixth most abundant element on Earth. It has various uses, including as a coolant for nuclear reactors, a component in sodium vapor lamps, and a nutrient for humans, animals, and plants. It is also used to produce organic materials, disinfectants, and metal alloys.
Sodium is a soft and malleable metallic element that is the sixth most abundant naturally occurring element on Earth, where it is combined into various types of salt compounds from sodium chloride, NaCl, to sodium hydroxide, NaOH. The element was discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy, a noted British chemist, in 1807, and it was initially questioned whether it was a metal because one of the properties of sodium is that it is less dense than other metals and so soft that can be easily cut with a knife. Metallic sodium is also highly reactive with water and, when heated in air, will ignite, releasing hydrogen gas in an exothermic reaction that can cause explosions in confined spaces. Laboratories typically store the pure metal in the bottom of kerosene canisters to prevent it from contacting liquid water or diffuse atmospheric moisture.
The chemical properties of sodium include the fact that it is highly reactive with many types of other elements and compounds, including most metal halides, ammonia, and hydrogen. However, it only reacts weakly with carbon and not at all with nitrogen or inert gases such as xenon and argon. This makes it a useful component as a vapor in sodium vapor lamps, which are highly efficient light sources that do not show a decline in light output with age. Because one of the properties of sodium is that it has a low melting point of 208° Fahrenheit (98° Celsius) and is non-reactive with steel, it has been used as a coolant for nuclear reactors in submarines. These reactors are known as liquid metal fast reactors (LMFRs) and offer high power for their small size, while the sodium coolant eliminates the need for high pressure containment vessels on such vessels.
The physical properties of metallic sodium classify it in the family of alkaline chemical elements which include other light metals such as potassium, lithium and cesium. These are highly reactive metals that bind freely in nature with other elements, making sodium present in several forms widely used in medicine and agriculture. While sodium chloride, NaCl, is the second most abundantly dissolved mineral in seawater, sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, is found in limestone and has been mankind’s most frequently mined mineral, used since at least 1370 BC in the glass production. Since one of the major properties of sodium is that it is a light metal that is actually less dense than water, this makes it a useful trace element that emits a weak level of radioactive decay in the form of sodium-22 and sodium-24 isotopes. These isotopes are used in medical imaging and for tracing leaks in buried pipelines carrying petroleum and other industrial compounds.
Other uses of sodium include its role as an important nutrient for humans, animals and plants. It is also widely used to produce organic materials such as soap and sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl, which is a key component of bleach for fabrics and paper, as well as being a useful disinfectant agent. Sodium is also used to improve the qualities of metal alloys and serves as a good conductor of electricity where it can reduce electricity consumption in neon lighting.
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