Sodium

“ Sodium is the metallic base of soda. It is silver white with a high lustre; crystallizes in cubes; of the consistence of wax at ordinary temperatures, and completely liquid at 194°, and139 volatilizes at a bright red heat. It is very generally diffused throughout nature though apparently somewhat less abundantly than potassium in the solid crust of the globe.
Salt, the chloride of sodium, a natural compound of one atom of chloride and one of sodium. It occurs as a rock inter-stratified with marl, and sandstones, and gypsum, and as an element of salt springs, sea water, and salt water lakes. ”

“ Sodium is never found free in nature, but its most common form is in combination with chlorin as common salt, an important ingredient of sea water. Combined with silica sodium is an important element in many silicates. Sodium, although closely related to potassium chemically, cannot in any case be substituted therefor in plant nutrition. In combination with nitrogen it forms soda or Chile saltpeter which is a valuable fertilizer on account of its content of nitric acid.
20. Iron is the most abundant of the heavy metals, and occurs in nature both free and combined with other elements. ”

“ Its necessity as a constituent in the food both of human beings and of animals becomes evident when we consider that both hydrochloric acid and salts of sodium are found in the substances which are separated out from the blood into the stomach and intestines. ”

“ Is it not a blessing to know that nature has munificently provided a means whereby these distressing evils may be checked and definitely eradicated by a daily use of such an enemy to, and destroyer of, disease as the chloride of sodium, universally known as common salt? ”

“ If sodium be thrown on to water, caustic soda is produced, a substance made up of hydrogen, oxygen, and the simple radicle sodium; by another reaction a substance can be obtained consisting of hydrogen, oxygen, and the compound radicle nitryl (NO2) . These two bodies have analogous formulæ, Na OH and (NO2) OH, they may both be regarded as derived from water, H HO, by the replacement of one half of the hydrogen by a radicle; in one case by Na, in the other by NO2. Again, the whole of the hydrogen in water may be replaced by sodium, with production of the compound sodium oxide, Na2O. ”

“ As all mineral waters originate from rock-salt, and as they all owe their other constituents to superincumbent strata, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the chloride of sodium is, prima facie, their principal ingredient, and that their beneficial effects are to a certain extent due to it, more than to the presence of those from which their names are derived ”

“ Sodium is a silver-white metal about as heavy as water, and so soft that it can be molded easily by the fingers or pressed into wire. It is very active chemically, combining with most of the non-metallic elements, such as oxygen and chlorine, with great energy. ”

“ Physiology has been a boon to humanity and an inexhaustible field of research to the scientific.
In a chemical point of view there is no more important mineral constituent in the human body than the chloride of sodium, for it occurs nearly in every part of the system, both solid and fluid, in close and intimate relation with the organic compounds, and it materially influences their chemical and physical properties; for instance, the albumen partly owes its solubility to the presence of salt, the quantity of which causes the differences which it presents as regards its coagulation ”

“ Gay Lussac and Thenard find a suboxide of sodium in the same way as that of potassium, and it is probably a compound of soda and sodium: the remarkable oxidation which produces soda is, I should imagine, the protoxide or one atom to one, as obtained by placing sodium in contact with water. A higher oxide is obtained as with potassium, by burning sodium in oxygen gas with a vivid heat. It resembles the yellow oxide of potassium in its appearance and properties. The degree of oxidation varies in the different experiments from 11⁄4 to 13⁄4 times the oxygen of soda. ”

“ The sodium remains at the bottom of the liquid. Pure sodium may, however, be prepared at once, by subjecting incinerated tartrate of soda to heat in the apparatus of Brunner, described under Potassium. It is white, like silver; softer and more malleable than any other metal, and may be readily reduced into very thin leaves. It preserves its malleability till it approaches the melting point. Its specific gravity is 0·970. It softens at the temperature of 122° F., and at 200° it is perfectly fluid; but it will not rise in vapour until heated to nearly the melting point of glass. ”

“ Common salt is used daily with our food; is harmless and useful; it is known as the chloride of sodium. By analysis this compound is separated, analyzed, into chlorine and sodium. Na stands for sodium, and Cl for chlorine. Combine Cl with H. That forms hydrochloric acid, a strong poison, strong enough to dissolve marble. Cl has little attraction for O. Its chemical energies are principally exerted toward hydrogen and the metals. ”

“ An enormous quantity of sodium carbonate, or soda, as it is usually called, is needed in the manufacture of glass, soap, bleaching powders, and other commercial products. Formerly, the supply of soda was very limited because man was dependent upon natural deposits and upon ashes of sea plants for it. Common salt, sodium chloride, is abundant, and in 1775 a prize was offered to any one who would find a way to obtain soda from salt. ”

“ With oxygen it forms two oxides; with chlorine, a chloride (common salt) ; and—with bromine, iodine, fluorine, &c., bromide, iodide, fluoride, &c., all of which may be obtained by similar processes to the respective compounds of potassium, which, for the most part they resemble.
Uses. Until recently sodium has been regarded as a mere mechanical or philosophical curiosity; it has now, however, become of great practical importance, from being employed in the manufacture of the metals aluminium, magnesium, &c. ”

“ Had it not been for physiological research we should not have known that the chloride of sodium was such an important constituent in the animal economy; we should have been in utter ignorance of the science of life, and we should never have known how man is begotten, how developed, or how he dies. ”

“ Like sodium, it is easily dissolved out of foods which are soaked in water, and this is one of the reasons that vegetables should not be soaked and the water thrown away. It is very peculiar in its metallic state, being a silvery metal, very light in weight, which burns when thrown upon water. That is, it decomposes both itself and the water with the liberation of so much heat that it fires the escaping hydrogen, which burns with a violet flame. Pure potassium is not found in nature. ”

“ Such distinctions between the elements, according to their power of giving one or several saline forms, is a radical property of no less importance than the basic or acid properties of their oxides. Sodium as a typical metal does not form any acid oxides, whilst chlorine, as a typical non-metal, does not form bases with oxygen. Therefore sodium as an element may be thus characterised: it forms one very stable salt-forming oxide, Na2O, having powerful basic properties, and its salts are of the general formula, NaX, therefore in its compounds it is, like hydrogen, a basic and univalent element. ”

“ Every molecule of water has two atoms of hydrogen linked up with one of oxygen, but sodium does not like two atoms of hydrogen: it insists on having one only. Accordingly the oxygen atom from the water, together with one of the hydrogen atoms, join forces with the sodium atom into a molecule of a new substance, a most valuable substance in many manufactures, called Caustic Soda, while the odd atom of hydrogen, deprived of its partners, has nothing left to do but to cling for a while to the cathode and finally float up and away. ”

“ Sodium.—As we pass from potassium to the neighbouring metals, there is a gradual transition of property as regards the nature of response to electric waves. With sodium the adjustment is a little more difficult than with potassium, but the response is somewhat similar to that of potassium. Though, in general, there is an increase of resistance produced by electric radiation, there are occasional exceptions when a diminution of resistance is produced. With some trouble the adjustment could be made so that the recovery is also automatic, but it is not so energetic as in the case of potassium. ”

“ Precipitate the lime by oxalate of ammonia, and the magnesia by carbonate of ammonia and phosphoric acid. (Page 52.) Then evaporate the liquid thus treated to dryness. A quantity of common salt will remain: let this be exposed to a red heat; 0.4 of its weight indicate the sodium contained in the bulk of water employed; and 0.4 sodium are equivalent to 0.53 of soda.
It seems hardly requisite to mention some other substances that occasionally make their appearance in the waters used for domestic purposes. A fine divided sand is a common constituent, which is easily obtained in a separate state. ”

“ As sodium chloride, or common table salt, it is taken in great quantities by most people. Those who have no salt get along well without it, which shows that it is not needed in large amounts. If but a little is added to the food, it does no perceptible harm, but when sprinkled on everything that is eaten, from watermelons to meat, it is without doubt harmful. By soaking foods, they are deprived of much of their soda: The two sodium salts that are very abundant are sodium chloride, or common salt, and sodium carbonate, generally called soda. ”

“ Donny and Mareska long ago showed that sodium retains its luster in liquid chlorine at -80°, and quite recently Professor Dewar demonstrated that liquid oxygen is without action on sodium, potassium, phosphorus, solid sulphuretted hydrogen, and solid hydriodic acid. He further experimented with other substances normally active, and found their affinity at very low temperatures destroyed. ”

“ Applications Of Sodium Amalgams.—These are nearly the same as those of the potassium amalgams, but the sodium amalgams are employed almost exclusively, because sodium is easier to handle than potassium, and is cheaper. These employments are the following:
I.—Sodium amalgam furnishes a process for the preparation of sodium when soda is decomposed by means of the electric current, employing quicksilver as the cathode, and afterwards vaporizing the quicksilver of the amalgam formed by heating this in a current of dry hydrogen. ”

“ If common salt be a chloride of sodium, and experiment obliges us so to regard it, what is there in its aqueous solution that should lead us to consider it as containing a muriate of soda; what evidence of any new arrangement of elements? Dr. T. is certainly in mistake, when he says, “for all practical purposes, therefore, the solution of a metallic chloride in water may be viewed as the muriate of an oxide, and on this account I shall always regard it as such in the present treatise.” ”

“ Its twelve funnels show only four enclosed bodies, the same as we see in chlorine, bromine, iodine, copper and silver, and which is very little modified in gold. Its central globe is the simplest of all, as is its connecting rod. We may therefore take it that sodium is the ground-plan of the whole group. ”

“ Sodium, on the other hand, has never been found to contain arsenic, and mercury only very rarely; but should it exist in that metal, it can be easily removed by digesting the mercury in dilute nitric acid, and afterwards well washing it with water.
One part by weight of sodium to 8 or 10 parts of mercury forms a very good amalgam. The mercury is placed in a test-tube, and the sodium gradually added in small portions; the metals readily combine, forming an alloy, liquid whilst hot, but hard and brittle when cold. ”

“ Again, the greenish-yellow and intensely poisonous gas, chlorine, unites in definite proportions by weight with the soft, wax-like, and highly poisonous metal sodium to produce the white crystalline solid chloride of sodium (common salt) , a compound which, except in very large quantities, is not only not poisonous, but actually beneficial to health.
Such combinations are called chemical compounds, and the force which binds their constituents together is distinguished from all other attractive forces by the term affinity or chemical affinity. ”

“ If it be heated in oxygen gas in excess, it burns, and is converted into the peroxide of sodium, which, when mixed with combustible bodies, and exposed to the action of heat, deflagrates with violence, giving off its excess of oxygen, and becoming changed into soda, or protoxide of sodium.
Experiment 64. When sulphuret of sodium is mixed with chlorate of potassa, and struck with a hammer, a detonation will ensue; and when sodium is heated nearly to fusion, in contact with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, it will unite with the sulphur; flame will be produced, and hydrogen gas set at liberty. ”

“ The delicacy of spectrum analysis may be imagined from the fact that a quantity of sodium amounting to less than the two-millionth of a grain can be detected by its means. Indeed, it has taught us that sodium in one form or other exists almost everywhere. This mode of analysis is only serviceable to indicate the composition of any salt or other substance, the quantities of the different elements found by its use having no influence on the appearances brought out by the prism. ”