Periodic Table and Sodium Essay

Sodium, one of many elements in the periodic table is being used in everyday life, it is also an essential element within your body. It is just another element, but one of the differences is that this element is something that most people consume every day. Sodium has played an important role in everyday life because of its uses in medicine, industry, and agriculture(Shriver). Sodium was discovered in 1807 by a man named Sir Humphrey Davy. He was well known for his discoveries of most alkali metals and Alkaline Earth Metals, such as potassium, magnesium, and many more(Chemicool Periodic Table). Sodium is from the alkali metal family. There are five more chemical elements from the same exact family. The period number of sodium is three. Na is the chemical symbol of sodium on the periodic table. Na is the symbol because it comes from the Latin word â€Å"Natrium†, which means sodium (Periodic). It’s atomic number is eleven and it has the atomic mass of 22. 98977, which makes it the fifth largest in its family(Web Elements). Each and every element has difference has a difference between each of them. When Sodium is not exposed to air it is silvery- white in color and is bright and shiny. When it is kept in open air, it becomes dull and gray because of the reaction with the oxygen present in the atmosphere. At room temperature, sodium is found in the form of a solid which is very soft to touch. Due to its softness, you can easily cut it with a table knife(Mukherjee). It’s melting point is 97. 72 degrees Celsius and 207. 9 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezing point is the same as the melting point but the boiling point is 883 degrees Celsius and 1621 degrees Fahrenheit(Web Elements). When a fresh piece of sodium comes in contact with air, it forms sodium oxide and this oxide forms a white coating and protects the metal from any other reaction. The reaction with sodium and water can be very dangerous. Reaction of sodium with water results in sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. As heat is produced during this reaction, it is called exothermic reaction. This released heat often burns the hydrogen gas and as a result fire may break out. If large pieces of sodium are put into water it can lead to loud explosions(Mukherjee). Most elements are used in everyday life. They can be used in same ways and different ways. Sodium compounds have many uses in industry, medicine, agriculture, and photography. Manufactures use sodium borate in making ceramics, soaps , and many more. Sodium hydroxide is an important industrial alkali used in refining petroleum and many people take sodium bicarbonate to relieve an overly acid stomach Pure sodium mostly is used in industrial uses. Some is used to produce such metals as titanium and zirconium. One of main everyday uses of sodium that everyone knows about is salt. Forty percent of sodium is used to make salt and most likely people consume salt every day(Shriver). Sodium is the fourth most abundant element and it makes up almost 2. 6% of the Earth’s crust. Another fact is that sodium is highly reactive , which makes the storage of the element a very hard task. The best way to store it is by putting it into liquid hydrocarbons. Sodium is also very important to the body because it helps regulate blood pressure, muscle relaxation, fluid balance in the body, and much more(Periodic Table). This element is incorporated in the project by the using table salt. The table salt represents the element sodium and it will be hit by a marble which will tilt the salt to pour onto the fries. This element was chosen because it is very commonly used in everyday life, it would be very easily incorporated in the project, it was a very interesting element, and while it is very easy to incorporate in the project it also seems very challenging. In conclusion, Sodium is highly used in everyday life. It can be used in medicine, food, and more(Shriver). It has many interesting facts that many people probably do not know, but should know. There are about 115 elements in the periodic table and sodium is just one of those elements(Chemicool Periodic Table)