Na Na Na Na (Hey Hey Hey) Sodium!

Name: Sodium
Symbol: Na
Atomic Number: 11
Relative Atomic Mass: 22.99
Category: Alkali metal
Appearance: Silver coloured metal

Sodium is a very important and useful chemical element. It is also one that needs to be treated with care in its elemental form. An element is in its elemental form when it is not combined with other elements as part of a compound.The elemental form of sodium is very reactive. It can even explode and cause fires when it’s in water! Because of its reactivity, sodium is never found in its elemental form in nature. 

Did you know?

Sodium is in the first group (column) and third period (row) of the periodic table. 

Let’s learn where sodium comes from, how it is used, and why it can cause problems for cars and for humans.

Did you know?

Sodium is one of the 10 most abundant elements on Earth. It makes up 2.6% of the Earth’s crust. 

Where does salt come from? 

Salt, in the form of NaCl (sodium chloride), is mined across Canada. In the Atlantic provinces, it comes from ancient inland seas that have since dried up. In its mineral form, sodium chloride is called halite.

Where is the world’s largest salt mine?

The world’s largest underground salt mine is in Goderich, Ontario. The salt mined in Goderich is from an ancient sea bed that existed in the area during the Silurian Period, between 443 million and 416 million years ago. When that sea dried up, the salt was left behind in a huge layer of sediment. Over time, the sediment was covered by layers of rock and soil. The layer of salt in Goderich, which is over 300 m below the bottom of Lake Huron, is more than 40 m thick.

Here, the giant deposits found deep underground are drilled and blasted to break off smaller pieces. Salt mined in this way is not pure. In order to be purified, the salt is dissolved. Then, the water is evaporated. This allows the salt to recrystallize, and any impurities to be washed away. 

What are some of the uses of salt?

There are many uses for sodium-containing salt. For example, it is used as a de-icer for roads in the winter in some parts of Canada. Sodium and chloride ions move around with the water molecules, making it harder for them to form ice crystals. As a result, ice forms at a much lower temperature than it would normally. Sodium chloride can actually lower the freezing temperature of water from 0°C to -21°C. However, salt is very corrosive.  This means that it damages other materials, especially metals. This is why so many cars begin to rust after years of salt exposure. The use of road salt also has a variety of environmental impacts. 

Did you know?

Sodium is found in many common household products, including table salt (sodium chloride), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and a laundry detergent booster called borax (disodium tetraborate). 

How does sodium affect the human body? 

All of the cells in your body need sodium.  Sodium allows your muscles to contract and your nerve cells to communicate. However, if you get too much sodium, it can be very bad for your health. Taking in too much salt in your diet can raise the amount of sodium in your blood. The extra sodium in your blood causes your kidneys to work extra hard to pull out water to produce urine. This can cause excess fluid and strain on the blood vessels around the kidney. Over the long term, this can lead to kidney disease or hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Adults and children over the age of 13 should only take in between 1 500 and 2 300 mg of sodium a day. This is less than one teaspoon of salt. However, on average, Canadian males aged 14 to 18 tend to take double the recommended amount of sodium: 3420 mg a day! (5) To avoid consuming too much sodium, avoid eating too much bread and processed meat, both of which are major sources of sodium for Canadians.

To sum up...

Sodium is a very important component of sodium chloride, the salt we use to flavour our foods and salt our roads. But salt can be corrosive to cars. It can also cause some pretty serious health consequences if you eat too much of it. Remember, sometimes there can be too much of a good thing!