Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Science - Essay Example It is one of the alkali metals having a chemical symbol â€Å"Na† with atomic number 11. Sodium is soft and silvery white metal in color. Aside from one of the most abundant elements in the planet, sodium in nature belongs to halite group which means it is highly reactive. Aside from its silvery-white color, sodium is also waxy in appearance, can easily be cut by a knife because it is soft, it reacts with oxygen once exposed to air and forms sodium oxide film (Chemistry Explained, par. 1-60). This is the reason why a bright and shiny surface of sodium once cut lacks luster because the sodium oxide film covers the metal. According to Resusch (par. 5), the atom of sodium has only one electron in its valence shell that at times when it losses it, it will result to lower shell valence octet which further results to obtaining a positively charged atom. Sodiums’ atomic mass is 22.98 (Chemistry Explained, par. 1-60). Sodium’s melting point is 97.82 °C, boiling point of 881.4 °C, density of 0.968 grams per cubic centimeter and since it is a metal, it excellently conducts electricity (Chemistry Explained, par. 1-60). At 298 0K, sodium is at its solid state (Winter, par. 1-8). 3. Sodium also reacts with other elements and compounds. Once sodium reacts with acid, it produces hydrogen gas. It can also be dissolved in other metallic elements such as mercury to create an alloy such as amalgam. In the periodic table of elements, it can be observed that the number of protons is what actually tries to determine a certain element among any other. However, the number of neutrons in an atom varies and this variation is considered an isotope (Chemistry Explained, par. 1-60). Therefore if an element is having forms of more than one, then its other forms are considered isotopes. In the case of sodium, it has one naturally occurring isotopes which is sodium-23 and it has six radioactive isotopes, which break apart and