Element 11 - Sodium

The alkali metal sodium is the second highest on the Periodic Table of Elements, and it is in the alkali metals family.
The English chemist Humphry Davy discovered sodium in 1807 after electrolyzing caustic soda, better known as lye.
(It is also commerically produced by electrolyzing table salt, separating it into sodium and chloride.)

Sodium has a single valence electron like other alkali metals, meaning that it is extremely reactive.

Historical & Fun Facts!

Sodium’s name comes from the Medieval Latin word for “headache remedy”, or “sodanum”.
Humphry Davy, the chemist who discovered sodium, also went on to discover many other elements such as calcium, potassium, and boron.

Sodium is an expensive metal in its pure form due to its reactivity, and it needs to be extracted from different sources as well.
It reacts with water to create more hydrogen gas than even cesium, since it doesn’t instantly explode without the chance to produce lots of hydrogen.
It gets its elemental symbol from the Latin word “natrium”, which means sodium carbonate.
Sodium has one valence electron like all the other alkali metals, and has an oxidation number of 1.
Sodium is the 6th most abundant element in Earth's crust, making up around 3% of it, and is always found in compound form because of its reactivity.

Sodium - The 11th Element in the Periodic Table of Elements.

Historical & Fun Facts!