Scientific Help NOW!!! (please)?

Question

OK I'm doing a research project and I need some info. I'm doing my project on the element "Sodium". Who discovered this element and when? Where and How was it discovered and is it an old element? If it is an old element please tell me some information about it a long time ago. And also is there any other uses besides salt? Thanks!! Please answer!! Don't answer one part of it though, try and answer the whole thing it's really important!!!

-samantha

Answer 1

Here's the announcement of the discovery of sodium:

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Davy-Na&K-1808.html

You can download a pdf of the 1808 original here:

http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/f5j68456v2910453/?p=42c3e93e0b7540cfb1a39553a74763e0&pi=0

See if you can find this:

John Davy (the discoverer's brother) wrote in his journal that Humphry Davy was so excited to see sodium metal that he literally danced about the laboratory in joy. You could throw in some discussion of Allesdandro Volta and the invention of the battery in 1800 because it is this device that allowed Davy to discover sodium (and potassium) in 1808.

Best wishes on your project.

Answer 2

Na?
been used for EVER
salt licks were given to range animals in jesus time (and before) and before, so they wouldnt get a goiter in their throat

It was eventually isolated tho, in 1807 by a chemist named Davy.

Answer 3

Hi. Read quickly. http://www.answers.com/Sodium?cat=health&gwp=13

Answer 4

Sodium - not to be confused with "soda water", the "soda" bit
possibly referring to sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, technically a
sodium compound but not present in carbonated water. Its the
carbonate, not the soda being referred to, or rather that "soda" is
in fact the sodium salt of a weak acid, i.e., carbonic acid or H2CO3.
This decomposes into water and carbon dioxide and why soft drinks make you burp.

BTW: Mix baking soda and vinegar for a big froth explosion if you're twelve and watch ZOOM on PBS. Weak acid + salt of weak acid = weak acid + salt of weak acid:

CH3CO2H + NaHCO3 = H2CO3 + CH3CO2Na

- but wait, there's MORE:

H2CO3 = CO2 + H2O BUURP!

Isn't that amazing?

Natrium. Your girlfriend's last name - right?

No. It's what the Alchemists called Sodium, which is actually a
bright, silvery metal much softer than lead and lighter than water.
This fact is overlooked by the fact it is apt to spontaneously
ignite, the "little chunk of sodium in the bucket of water" being
every highschool teacher's favorite end_of_the_semester science
stunt. End of the semester because the sodium is apt to fly out the
bucket into a stack of papers and ignite them, too:

Na + H2O = NaOH + H2

-and then:

2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + lots and lots of heat

BTW: have you noticed everything winding up as water, soda and
greenhouse gasses? This is a phenomenon known as entropy, stuff with more chemical energy spontaneously turning into stuff with less. Here the energy is released in the form of burning highschools.

Besides baking soda, the other major household chemical based on sodium is caustic soda. That's the NaOH stuff from the equasion
above. Commonly this is known as "oven cleaner" and "draino", since it is very efficient at removing grease deposits in a chemical
reaction known as saponification:

Fatty Acid + strong base = water + salt of fatty acid

The "salt" is in fact "soap". Fatty acids themselves are nothing more than super large versions of vinegar, only instead of having just a chain of two carbon atoms, fatty acids have 18 or more carbons. Nonetheless it is the same old vinegar and soda trick only not quite so violent. Sure, the base has quite alot of chemical energy, but the acid is so fatty it hardly has any energy at all, so the chemistry between these two sort of cancel the other out.

Oil & Vinegar :

Like mixes with like. Hell, everyone on this list ought to be aware
of that fact. Oil does not mix with water because of this. The reason
is a phenomenon known as polarity. Dihydrogen Oxide (H2O) is a sort of tiny magnet with a positive end (hydrogen) and a negative end (oxygen). Fats are nothing but hydrocarbons for the most part and have no charge at all. Oil and water - will they ever mix? Enter
soap - soda salt of a fatty acid, remember? Soap removes grease in a process known as emulsification. What happens is the soap molecules adhere to the oil and the carbon chain sinks into it like it were quicksand, leaving only the head of the molecule exposed. The head is charged and hence attracts water molecules. The net effect is that water begins to fill spaces between the oil molecules, dissolving them. Of course the spaces have to be created in the first place and that's why one has to scrub.

What about "salt" "salt" ? :

Oh, sodium chloride. The ocean is full of it. Did you know if all the
water on earth were reduced to a gallon the amount of fresh water
would only amount to around a teaspoon? I say we ought to stop using our lakes and rivers as toilets! Reguarding NaCl, this compound forms cubic crystals with each sodium atom surrounded neatly by a layer of chlorine atoms, or visa versa, depending on how one chooses to look at things. Concentrated salt water, or brine, is the source of caustic soda and chlorine gas. Brine conducts electricity and when it does evolves chlorine gas and a solution of sodium hydroxide.

This is Your Brain on Sodium:

Thrown in the rest of your nervous system, too. Everyone knows nerves cary tiny electrical charges but it isn't clear how. I mean nerves aren't made of copper or iron, but there is a metal involved. Guess which one? Well a pair of metals actually, sodium and its big brother potassium. Every parent knows no two siblings are ever alike and worst of all, tend to try and maximize their differences as much as possible. The same phenomenon - (one of my favorite words) - is also at play in nerve cells. Nerve cells constantly soak up potassium and sweat out sodium. Due to the slight difference in charge, this establishes a difference in potential, sort of like a vacuum. When a nerve sends a signal, it opens all its pores and potassium rushes out, neutralizing the potential. This travels in a wave like fashion down the cell until it meets another nerve. Hence, a signal is born.

Soda glass:

The Phonecians suposedly discovered glass one afternoon after they'd commited anti semetic autrocities and lit a big bon fire to
celebrate. The next morning mysterious blobs of a hard, previous
unknown material was discovered amoungst the ashes. Were these the souls of the semites? No, the world's first glass, technically sodium silicate. What had happened was the sand (silicon dioxide) under the bonfire combined with soda or salt, forming a compound melting around 1000 degrees less than pure silica. Glass is actually a mixture of silicon dioxide and sodium silicate. Pure sodium silicate is soluable and was once known as "water glass" and used to coat eggs in order to preserve them. Returning to glass itself, adding various metals adds colors to glass like red (gold), green (copper) and blue (cobalt).
Lead is added to improve the clarity.

Well, there one has Sodium. Rater nasty in a pure state but as a salt nothing could work or live without it.

Answer 5

try googe-ing it. those sound like VERY easy things to look up and they will probably be on the same webpage. like i dunno, wiki??