Sodium chloride
- Formula: NaCl
- Hill system formula: Cl1Na1
- CAS registry number: [7647-14-5]
- Formula weight: 58.442
- Class: chloride
- Colour: white
- Appearance: crystalline solid
- Melting point: 801°C
- Boiling point: 1413°C; 1465°C
- Density: 2170 kg m-3
The following are some synonyms of sodium chloride:
- sodium chloride
- sodium(I) chloride
- halite
- rock salt
- salt
The oxidation number of sodium in sodium chloride is 1.
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)
Element analysis
The table shows element percentages for NaCl (sodium chloride).
| Element | % |
|---|---|
| Cl | 60.66 |
| Na | 39.34 |
Isotope pattern for NaCl
The chart below shows the calculated isotope pattern for the formula NaCl with the most intense ion set to 100%.
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.