WebElements Periodic Table of the Elements | Sodium

Sodium compounds: sodium chloride

The sodium in sodium chloride formally is in the oxidation state 1.

Sodium chloride

Formula as often written: NaCl
Hill system formula: Cl₁Na₁
CAS registry number: [7647-14-5]
Formula weight: 58.442
Class: chloride

Synonyms

sodium chloride
sodium(I) chloride
halite
rock salt
salt

Physical properties

Colour: white
Appearance: crystalline solid
Melting point: 801°C
Boiling point: 1413°C; 1465°C
Density: 2170 kg m^-3

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Element analysis

Element percentages for the elements in sodium chloride
Element	%
Cl	60.66
Na	39.34

Synthesis

One way to make sodium chloride is to react the hydroxide with hydrochloric acid. The resulting salt can then be purified by recrystallization. In practice however, sodium chloride is available in massive amounts in nature and can simply be recrystallized to recover it.

NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H₂O(l)

While not a normal route of preparation because of the expense, sodium metal reacts vigorously with all the halogens to form sodium halides. So, it burns with chlorine, Cl₂, to form sodium(I) chloride, NaCl.

2Na(s) + Cl₂(g) → 2NaCl(s)

Solid state structure

Geometry of sodium: 6 coordinate: octahedral
Prototypical structure: NaCl (rock salt)

Crystal structure of sodium chloride

Isotope pattern

What follows is the calculated isotope pattern for the NaCl unit with the most intense ion set to 100%.

Formula: Na₁Cl₁

mass  %
58 100.0 __________________________________________________
59   0.0 
60  32.0 ________________

References

The data on these compounds pages are assembled and adapted from the primary literature and several other sources including the following.

R.T. Sanderson in Chemical Periodicity, Reinhold, New York, USA, 1960.
N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.
F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo, and M. Bochmann, in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
A.F. Trotman-Dickenson, (ed.) in Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1973.
R.W.G. Wyckoff, in Crystal Structures, volume 1, Interscience, John Wiley & Sons, 1963.
A.R.West in Basic solid state chemistry Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
A.F. Wells in Structural inorganic chemistry, 4th edition, Oxford, UK, 1975.
J.D.H. Donnay, (ed.) in Crystal data determinative tables, ACA monograph number 5, American Crystallographic Association, USA, 1963.
D.R. Lide, (ed.) in Chemical Rubber Company handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 77th edition, 1996.
J.W. Mellor in A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, volumes 1-16, Longmans, London, UK, 1922-1937.
J.E. Macintyre (ed.) in Dictionary of inorganic compounds, volumes 1-3, Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 1992.