Sodium - Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table Chemistry in its element: sodium (Promo) You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry. (End promo) This week an essential element with a split personality. Here's David Read. David Read Sodium, like most elements in the periodic table could be said to have a dual personality. On one side it is an essential nutrient for most living things, and yet, due to its reactive nature is also capable of wreaking havoc if you happen to combine it with something you shouldn't. As such sodium is found naturally only in compounds and never as the free element. Even so it is highly abundant, accounting for around 2.6 per cent of the earths crust by weight. Its most common compounds include dissolved sodium chloride (or table salt), its solid form, halite and as a charge balancing cation in zeolites. Aside from being an essential nutrient, the story of man and sodium is said to begin all the way back in the time of the Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, with the first recorded mention of a sodium compound in the form of hieroglyphics.

It is difficult to describe a pictogram through speech but imagine a squiggly line over the top of a hollow eye-shape, over the top of a semicircle, with a left-facing vulture image next to them all. This pictogram meant divine or pure and its name is the root of the word natron, which was used to refer to washing soda, or sodium carbonate decahydrate, as we would know it today. Sodium carbonate was used in soap, and also, in the process of mummification thanks to its water absorbing and bacteria killing pH control properties. In medieval Europe, however, sodium carbonate was also used as a cure for headaches, and so took the name sodanum, from the Arabic suda, meaning headache. It was this terminology that inspired Sir Humphrey Davy to call the element sodium when he first isolated it by passing an electric current through caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, in 1807. This process is known as electrolysis and using it Davy went on to isolate elemental potassium, calcium, magnesium and barium by a very similar method. Chemistry teachers often confuse children when they tell them about chemical symbols.

Whilst ones like H, N, C and O all seem perfectly logical, abbreviating sodium to Na seems counterintuitive at first. However, if we consider the word natron, we can see where the abbreviated form came from. When isolated in metallic form, silvery white sodium is a violent element, immediately oxidising upon contact with air, and violently producing hydrogen gas which may burst into flame when brought into contact with water. It is one of the highly reactive group one elements that are named the alkali metals. Like the other alkali metals, it has a very distinctive flame test - a bright orange colour, from the D-line emission. This is something you will have seen in all built up areas in the form of street lamps, which use sodium to produce the unnatural yellow light bathing our streets. This effect was first noted in 1860 by Kirchoff and Bunsen of Bunsen Burner fame. Almost all young chemists will have done a flame test at some point, and sodium chloride is a popular choice. Unfortunately, the intensity of the colour is such that if any of the compound is spilled into the Bunsen burner, it is cursed to burn with a blue and orange speckled flame seemingly forever.

The reaction of sodium with water is a favourite demonstration, and clips of it abound on the internet. Sodium and its compounds have applications so diverse it would be impossible to mention them all here, a couple of examples include the fact that sodium is used to cool nuclear reactors, since it won't boil as water would at the high temperatures that are reached. Sodium hydroxide can be used to remove sulfur from petrol and diesel, although the toxic soup of by-products that is formed has led to the process being outlawed in most countries. Sodium hydroxide is also used in biodiesel manufacture, and as a key component in products that remove blockages from drains. Baking soda actually contains sodium (it's in the name!) and its chemical name is sodium bicarbonate, where I'm sure you've come across it in baking or cooking where it undergoes thermal decomposition at above 70°C to release carbon dioxide - which then makes your dough rise. It is as an ion, however, that sodium really becomes important. An average human being has to take in around two grams of sodium a day - and virtually all of this will be taken in the form of salt in the diet.

Sodium ions are used to build up electrical gradients in the firing of neurons in the brain. This involves sodium (and its big brother potassium) diffusing through cell membranes. Sodium diffuses in and is pumped back out, while potassium does the reverse journey. This can take up a huge amount of the body's energy - sometimes as much as 40 per cent. I'd like to end with a brief story which highlights the dual personality of sodium. One man bought three and a half pounds of sodium metal from the internet and spent the evening reacting it with water in various shapes and sizes whilst he and his friends watched from a safe distance. The party was apparently a success, but he doesn't suggest hosting your own. The following day when the host came outside to check the area where he detonated the sodium was clear, he noticed that it was covered in swarms of yellow butterflies. After doing some research, he found that these butterflies had an interesting habit. The males search for sodium and gradually collect it, presenting it to their mates later as a ritual. So, that sums up the two faces of sodium. Its violent reactive nature contrasted with its use by amorous butterflies.

Meera Senthilingam That was Southampton university's David Read with the two faced chemistry of sodium. Now next week, the chemical equivalent of train spotting. Brian Clegg It's easy to accuse the scientists who produce new, very heavy elements of being chemistry's train spotters. Just as train spotters spend hours watching for a particular locomotive so they can underline it in their book, it may seem that these chemists laboriously produce an atom or two of a superheavy element as an exercise in ticking the box. But element 114 has provided more than one surprise, showing why such elements are well worth investigating. Meera Senthilingam And to find out why element 114 is worth the effort join Brian Clegg in next week's Chemistry in its element. (Promo) Chemistry in its element is brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists.com . There's more information and other episodes of Chemistry in its element on our website at chemistryworld.org/elements .

(End promo) Print of 'Humphry Davy, British chemist and inventor, late 19th century.' in Black Frame: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home Print of 'Humphry Davy, British chemist and inventor, late 19th century.' in Black Frame Usually dispatched within 6 to 10 days. No sellers are currently delivering this item to the United States. Learn more Dispatched from and sold by Heritage Image Partnership . Size: Overall size : 22.5" x17.5"(572mm x 445mm) Overall size : 16.5" x 13.5"(419mm x 343mm) Â£40.63 Overall size : 22.5" x17.5"(572mm x 445mm) Â£56.25 Your chosen image is printed to order by professionals, double-mounted in a pale ivory mount board with a grey slip and in a solid wood frame. Your print will arrive ready-to-hang.

Print size : 16.5" x 11.7"(419mm x 297mm) Overall size : 22.5" x17.5"(572mm x 445mm) Add to Basket Â£56.25 Usually dispatched within 6 to 10 days. Dispatched from and sold by Heritage Image Partnership . Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links Size: Overall size : 22.5" x17.5"(572mm x 445mm) Technical Details Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered. Date First Available Product Description Size:Overall size : 22.5" x17.5"(572mm x 445mm) Humphry Davy, British chemist and inventor, late 19th century. Obverse of the Royal Society Davy medal, nstituted in 1877 and awarded annually for an outstanding recent discovery in chemistry. As well as a bronze medal, the winner receives Â£1000.

Davy (1778-1829) discovered the anaesthetic effects of laughing gas (nitrous oxide). In 1801 he was appointed lecturer at the Royal Institution, where he investigated, with his assistant Michael Faraday (1791-1867), his theory of volcanic action. Using electrolysis, Davy isolated the metals barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and strontium, as well as proving that chlorine was a chemical element. He is probably best known for his invention in 1815 of the miners' safety lamp, which enabled deeper, more gaseous seams to be mined without risk of explosion. Customer Questions & Answers Sodium - The Environmental Literacy Council The Environmental Literacy Council Of having discovered sodium. – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, British novelist Sodium is a soft, highly reactive metal that melts at a very low temperature, lower than that of boiling water (97.5 C). It is light enough to float on water and soft enough to be cut easily with a knife. It also reacts violently with water, producing enough heat to make it melt and to give off hydrogen gas, which then ignites.

It was first isolated by the English chemist Humphry Davy in 1807, by electrolysis of molten salt (NaCl) into its constituent elements sodium and chlorine. Sodium is represented by the symbol Na, its atomic number is eleven, and atomic weight 22.9898. It has only one naturally occurring isotope, sodium-23. It is an alkali metal, occurring in the far left hand column of the periodic table. It gives up one electron from its outer shell to form a positive ion. Because it is so reactive, it is never found in its pure, elemental state in nature; it must be isolated artificially. Pure sodium quickly looses its silvery luster when exposed to air and becomes dull gray, due to the formation of sodium oxide on the surface. This is analogous to the rusting of iron, but proceeds much more quickly. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. The salt water of the oceans contains 1.14 percent sodium; igneous rocks contain an average of 2.9 percent sodium.

Besides sodium chloride, other important sodium salts found in nature include sodium carbonate (soda), sodium borate (borax), sodium nitrate (Chile saltpeter), and sodium sulfate. A number of other sodium compounds are prepared from sodium chloride, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also commonly known as caustic soda or lye. Lye is one of the ingredients in soap. Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, is also made from salt, and has a number of common uses. It makes bread rise, it can be used as an antacid (because it is a base, it neutralizes stomach acid), and it is used in fire extinguishers to generate carbon dioxide, which then displaces oxygen and suffocates the fire. Sodium plays an important role in human physiology. The concentration of Na+ ions inside cells is generally lower than it is in the extracellular fluids. This sodium ion gradient is partially counterbalanced by an opposite potassium ion (K+) gradient. The membranes of our cells contain an enzyme that acts as a “sodium pump,” maintaining these gradients of both Na+ and K+ ions across the membrane.

The electrical potential difference, or voltage, associated with these gradients is important for nerve transmission and muscle contraction. Sodium ion gradients are also responsible for various transport processes, including sugar transport in the intestine and amino acid transport in red blood cells. Sodium is lost along with moisture when we perspire (sweat is salty), so it is important to take in salt as well as water when exerting oneself in hot weather, to avoid dehydration and maintain the correct composition of body fluids. Pure sodium is produced by electrolysis of molten sodium chloride, which in turn is obtained from salt water. Calcium chloride is added to the sodium chloride to lower its melting point, from 800 C to 580 C. The lower temperature makes for less severe operating conditions, which then permits a simpler construction of the apparatus. Molten sodium is used as the heat-transfer medium in nuclear reactors. It is well suited to this purpose because it has low density (slightly less than that of water), low vapor pressure even at high temperatures, low viscosity, and very high heat capacity and heat conductivity.

Another use of pure sodium is in the reduction of animal and vegetable oils to long-chain fatty alcohols, which then serve as raw materials for detergents. Street lamps are commonly filled with sodium vapor, which accounts for their yellowish tint: sodium emits light of a very specific frequency when it is burned or excited by an electric discharge. The radioactive isotope sodium-24 is used as a radiotracer in biological research. Because this isotope has chemical behavior identical to that of common sodium, it forms the same compounds. Salt made with sodium-24 is taken up by the body and its progress through various physiological systems can be traced by sensors that detect the radiation given off. Because sodium-24 has a very short half-life (about 15 hours), radiation damage to the body is minimized. Recommended Resources The Royal Society of Chemistry: Chemical Science Network: Sodium The Chemical Science Network, provided by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the largest European organization in the chemical sciences, provides an interactive periodic table with information on each of the elements. The sodium page contains information about its discovery, its uses, and its biological role for humans and animals.

Chem4Kids: Sodium Andrew Rader, a University of California at Santa Barbara graduate with a background in science and computers, maintains the Chem4Kids site as a web-based tool for educators to teach chemistry basics. The page on sodium provides a description of the electrons in its shell and its atomic number, and how they determine its position on the periodic table. Rader also includes information on where one finds chlorine in every day life and the compounds it forms with other elements. The Jefferson Lab is managed and operated by Southeastern Universities Research Association for the U.S. Department of Energy. This page provides the basic physical and historical information about sodium, such as its atomic number, its uses, and its oxidation state. Related Content Print of 'Humphry Davy, British chemist and inventor, 1802. Artist: James Gillray' in Black Frame: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home Product Description Size:Overall size : 16.5" x 13.5"(419mm x 343mm) Humphry Davy, British chemist and inventor, 1802.

Davy (1778-1829) discovered the anaesthetic effects of laughing gas (nitrous oxide). In 1801 he was appointed lecturer at the Royal Institution, where he investigated, with his assistant Michael Faraday (1791-1867), his theory of volcanic action. Using electrolysis, Davy isolated the metals barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and strontium, as well as proving that chlorine was a chemical element. He is probably best known for his invention in 1815 of the miners' safety lamp, which enabled deeper, more gaseous seams to be mined without risk of explosion. Detail from a Gillray cartoon, New Discoveries in Pneumatics, showing Davy demonstrating the effects of laughing gas to a meeting of the Royal Institution, London. Customer Questions & Answers Sodium 3-nitrobenzenesulfonate | AMERICAN ELEMENTS ® 11 Na 22.989769280 Sodium See more Sodium products.

Sodium (atomic symbol: Na, atomic number: 11) is a Block D, Group 5, Period 4 element with an atomic weight of 22.989769. The number of electrons in each of Sodium's shells is [2, 8, 1] and its electron configuration is [Ne] 3s1.The sodium atom has a radius of 185.8 pm and a Van der Waals radius of 227 pm. Sodium was discovered and first isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1807. In its elemental form, sodium has a silvery-white metallic appearance. It is the sixth most abundant element, making up 2.6 % of the earth's crust. Sodium does not occur in nature as a free element and must be extracted from its compounds (e.g., feldspars, sodalite, and rock salt). The name Sodium is thought to come from the Arabic word suda, meaning "headache" (due to sodium carbonate's headache-alleviating properties), and its elemental symbol Na comes from natrium, its Latin name.

Humphry Davy and the Chemical Moment | Clinical Chemistry Humphry Davy and the Chemical Moment Richard Holmes DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2011.173971 Published October 2011 Richard Holmes PDF There was a time in early 19th century Europe when chemistry was regarded not only as the dominant science of the day, but also as the most attractive and civilizing of all disciplines of “natural philosophy.” As the poet Coleridge announced with glee, as he began a private chemical course in 1801: “I shall attack Chemistry, like a Shark!” In fact for several decades chemistry came to symbolize the spirit of Science itself. It stood for pure disinterested and experimental research, combined with technological applications “for the relief of man's estate” (in the famous phrase of Sir Francis Bacon). It held out the promise of universal benefits “for all mankind.” Previously, science had been represented by Astronomy and Newton's Principia.

But in his authoritative Study of Natural Philosophy (1831) a retrospective overview of all scientific developments in every field since the mid-18th century, the great scientific polymath Sir John Herschel transferred this flag-bearing role to Chemistry. Chemistry, wrote Herschel, had become decisively “the most popular” as well as the most “ influential” of all the sciences. “We find none which have sprung forward, during the last century, with such extraordinary vigour, and have had such influence in promoting corresponding progress in others.” It was also the most exciting. It explored a dramatic new world of “wonderful and sudden transformations,” and was the “most completely experimental” of all the sciences in its drive and ambition (Herschel, On the Study of Natural Philosophy, 1831, part 3, chap. 4, pp. 299–309). The chemical experiments of the period 1770–1830 were indeed dazzling, and opened up the previously “secret” or “invisible” world of matter itself.

These revelations included the discovery and correct naming of new gases (“artificial airs”) such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide; the crucial decomposition of water—until then considered a “primary” element—into its components of oxygen and hydrogen; the isolation of new chemical elements such as sodium, potassium, chlorine, calcium, barium and magnesium; early atomic theory, and the first periodic table of chemical elements; the early investigations into the fantastic phenomena of electricity; the theories of latent heat, calorific and combustion; the wave hypothesis of light; photosynthesis; the medical uses of inhalation and vaccination (and nearly anaesthesia); and work on early spectroscopy. Portrait of Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829). ©Getty Images and Bridgeman Art Library. Photographer: John Linnell. Reproduced with permission. The technological applications were equally impressive.

Among many were the first Watts steam engine and condenser pump (based on the experiments of Black in the 1770s); the first Voltaic battery pile (1799); the first man-carrying balloons (1783); the first steam-powered ship (the Charlotte Dundas, 1801); the first gas street lighting (1807); the first electric arc lamp (1810); the first miner's safety lamp (1816); the first polarised light-house lens (1822); the first pioneer photographs using silver salts (1826); and the first “high” explosives for warfare during Napoleonic campaigns (1812). Of course the idea of a “first” in science is always highly contentious, but historians sometimes agree on roughly these dates. Sir Humphry Davy's electric light experiment in 1813. Collection of Dr. Bayla Singer. But more than this, for the first time the chemists formed a truly international network across Europe. It was a living community of letter exchanges, informal visits, conference sessions, technical publications (notably the Royal Society's journal Philosophical Transactions) and of course intense personal competitiveness.

The primary figure—and the one who excited the most rivalry as well as the most admiration—was the great French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794). It was Lavoisier who finally transformed the age-old mumbo jumbo of alchemy into an exemplary empirical science, through the use of accurate observation, exquisite measurement and precise nomenclature. As Herschel observed: “The third age of chemistry—that which may be called emphatically modern chemistry … commenced (in 1786) when Lavoisier, by a series of memorable experiments, placed chemistry in the rank of the exact sciences—a science of number, weight, and measure (On the Study of Natural Philosophy, pp. 301–2)”. But there were many others who belong to this great Chemical Moment in history.

Among them were Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) in America and also later in France, along with Berthollet (1749–1822) and Gay-Lussac (1778–1850); Scheele (1742–1786) and Berzelius (1779–1848) in Scandinavia; and the great roll-call from Britain: Joseph Black, Henry Cavendish, the radical non-Conformist Joseph Priestley, Thomas Beddoes, Thomas Young, John Dalton, and William Hyde Wollaston. But undoubtedly the most celebrated and iconic figure of this entire Chemical Age was Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829), who used his chemical discoveries, his wildly popular lecture series, and his general writings on science, to turn the “Chemical Philosopher” (the term scientist not being coined until 1834) into a figure of social and cultural importance in a quite new way.

Davy is now most obviously remembered for his early work on nitrous oxide; his use of the Voltaic battery to resolve new elements such as sodium and potassium; his innovations in agricultural chemistry and tanning; his invention of the arc light (using carbon electrodes); and above all for his triumphant design of the miner's safety lamp, a brilliantly simple device (of metal gauze) that spread across the coal mines of Europe, as far as Poland and even Russia, unhindered by patent restrictions. In accessing the primary energy source of the day, it saved literally thousands of lives. Open in new tab Humphry Davy (1778–1829), British chemist, testing his safety lamp in a mine. Several miners had been killed when their torches ignited pockets of methane in mines. The Davy lamp was designed in such a way that it was unable to do this, and thus its introduction in 1816 saved many lives. As well as this invention, Davy isolated the elements potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium, by passing an electric current through their compounds (electrolysis).

He also discovered nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, the gas that was used as the first anaesthetic. Images and text copyright ©2011 Photo Researchers, Inc. All rights reserved. Contributor: Sheila Terry. Reproduced with permission. Davy was also the first Englishman knighted for service to science since Sir Isaac Newton, and the first professional chemist (as opposed to astronomer or mathematician) to be elected President of the Royal Society of London. Altogether Davy conferred hitherto unexampled popularity—and even glamour—on the discipline of chemistry. His impact as a lecturer at the Royal Institution and the Royal Society is celebrated. An eyewitness, Thomas Dibdin, conveyed the theatrical atmosphere, as Davy exuberantly revealed the new alkali metals during his Bakerian lectures of 1806–8: The whole had the character of a noonday opera house. There stood Davy, every Saturday morning, as the mighty magician of nature—as one, to whom the hidden properties of the earth were developed by some Egerian priestess in her secret recess.

Begirt by his immense voltaic battery—which was as so many huge cubical links of wood and metal, forming a vast mysterious chain, and giving to the whole a sort of picturesque and marvellous character–the lecturer called forth its powers with an air of authority, and in a tone of confident success. The hardest metals melted like wax beneath its operation. … The tremendous force of such an agency struck the learned with delight, and the unlearned with mingled rapture and astonishment; and the theatre or lecture-room rung with applause as “the mighty master” made his retreating obeisance. (Dibdin, Reminiscences of a Literary Life, 1836, p. 226) The Monthly Magazine for August 1808 published a large double-spread engraving of “Professor Davy's great Galvanic Apparatus at the Royal Institution, by which he has effected the decomposition of the Alkalies.” Davy's voltaic battery was evidently a formidable instrument. Mounted in a long trough on metal legs, it was constructed of five hundred copper and zinc plates in interconnecting compartments filled with sulphuric acid.

Nearby on a work table is a small dull lump of potash waiting for decomposition and chemical “transformation” into a gleaming, volatile globule of potassium. The appearance of this dramatic engraving in a general periodical vividly suggests the public fascination with Davy's discoveries. Here is massive and revolutionary technical power in the hands of a scientific master. These aspects of Davy's fame are well known to scientific historians. But what is far less appreciated is the historical and philosophic importance of his writings. Davy's books and published lectures provided a new context for chemistry itself as a discipline, and for the social significance of science in general. He also wrote a number of incisive short essays on his chemical contemporaries, such as Cavendish, Lavoisier and Scheele. In his wonderful paper, On the Safety Lamp for Coal Miners, with Some Researches into Flame (1818) Davy produced one of the great set pieces of Romantic science writing. He related the human predicament of the miners, threatened by terrible explosions of fire-damp, to the scientific solution found in the laboratory.

He argued that applied science could be a force for good previously unparalleled in human society, and might gradually liberate mankind from untold misery and suffering. The safety lamp becomes the symbol of science's “benevolence,” and “the relief of man's estate.” Deliberately echoing Bacon—as Lavoisier had once done—Davy claimed that scientific knowledge was disinterested power for good: The results of these labours will, I trust, be useful to the cause of science, by proving that even the most apparently abstract philosophical truths may be connected with applications to the common wants and purposes of life. The gratification of the love of knowledge is delightful to every refined mind; but a much higher motive is offered in indulging it, when that knowledge is felt to be practical power, and when that power may be applied to lessen the miseries or increase the comforts of our fellow-creatures. (John Davy, ed., The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, 1839–40, vol. 6, p. 4; hereafter Works) The Edinburgh Review ran a fanfare article in praise of his work, written by the leading geologist Professor John Playfair.

“It may fairly be said that there is hardly in the whole compass of art or science a single invention of which one would rather wish to be the author.” Playfair described the discovery as the result of pure inductive science, “in no degree the effect of accident,” and “as wonderful as it is important.” Its historic significance was unmistakable. This is exactly such a case as we should choose to place before Bacon, were he to revisit the earth, in order to give him, in a small compass, an idea of the advancement which philosophy has made, since the time when he pointed out to her the route which she ought to pursue. Here the word “philosophy” was used exclusively to mean “science” in the modern sense: what Playfair defined as “the immediate and constant appeal to experiment (Edinburgh Review, 1816, no. 51, p. 233)”. But Davy also gave, for perhaps the first time since Bacon, a much wider social and philosophic context to the whole business and ambition of science. This appears in three visionary statements on the progressive state of chemistry in his life time, which he delivered successively over some thirty years.

The first was his “A Discourse Introductory to a Course of Lectures on Chemistry,” originally given at the Royal Institution in 1802. In this he outlined both a social history and a heroic future for science. His central concept was that of Hope. Once woken by science, man had become capable of “connecting Hope with an infinite variety of ideas.” Above all science had transformed mankind's prospects across the planet by enabling him to shape his future, imaginatively and actively. It has bestowed on him powers which may be almost called creative; which have enabled him to modify and change the beings surrounding him, and by his experiments to interrogate nature with power, not simply as a scholar, passive and seeking only to understand her operations, but rather as a master, active with his own instruments. (Davy, Works, vol. 2, pp. 318–9). Davy announced to his spellbound audience at the Royal Institution that they were witnessing the dawn of “a new science”: The dim and uncertain twilight of discovery, which gave to objects false or indefinite appearances, has been succeeded by the steady light of truth, which has shown the external world in its distinct forms, and in its true relations to human powers.

The composition of the atmosphere, and the properties of gases, have been ascertained; the phenomena of electricity have been developed; the lightnings have been taken from the clouds; and lastly, a new influence has been discovered, which has enabled man to produce from combinations of dead matter effects which were formerly occasioned only by animal organs. (Davy, Works, vol. 2, p. 321) The second significant statement appears in his encyclopaedic introduction to his collected Lectures on Chemistry of 1812, entitled “The Progress of Chemistry.” Here he gave a remarkable historical overview of chemistry since the Greeks and Arabs, and outlined contemporary developments right across Europe. He claimed that Britain now lead the world in Chemistry which had become the chief experimental science of the day, including work with voltaic batteries. Davy romantically dedicated these lectures to his fiancée Jane Apreece (Davy, Works, vol. 4). Finally, in his extraordinary last book Consolations in Travel: The Last Days of a Philosopher published in 1830, Davy gave a retrospective and even mystical view of the role of the chemist himself in society.

Here he claims that chemistry is the basis for a scientific education, and the key to all future sciences. Georges Cuvier later called it “in some measure the work of a dying Plato.” In this fifth dialogue, “The Chemical Philosopher,” Davy set out his hopes for the future of chemistry. It embodied all his passionate belief in science as a progressive force for good, both in its practical results and its cultural impact on the human spirit. Whilst chemical pursuits exalt the understanding, they do not depress the imagination or weaken genuine feelings; whilst they give the mind habits of accuracy, by obliging it to attend to facts, they like wise extend its analogies; and, though conversant with the minute forms of things, they have for their ultimate end the great and magnificent objects of Nature… . And hence they are wonderfully suited to the progressive nature of the human intellect … It may be said of modern chemistry, that its beginning is pleasure, its progress knowledge, and its objects truth and utility. (Davy, Consolations in Travel in vol. 9 of Works [hereafter Consolations], pp.

361–2, 365) Davy claimed chemistry as the crown of a “liberal education,” and assumed that a serious chemist would begin with an elementary knowledge of mathematics, general physics, languages, natural history, and literature. It is interesting that he included Latin, Greek, and French. He should write up his experiments in “the simplest style and manner.” But above all his imagination “must be active and brilliant in seeking analogies (Davy, Consolations, pp. 364–6)”. Davy was not above adding a little perilous glamour to the pursuit. “The business of the laboratory is often a service of danger, and the elements, like the refractory spirits of romance, though the obedient slave of the Magician, yet sometimes escape the influence of his talisman, and endanger his person (Davy, Consolations, pp. 365–6)”. As a result of Davy's promotion (and self-promotion) chemistry became not only popular but ultra fashionable by the end of the 1820's. There was a boom in the sale of chemistry sets, and books explaining practical experiments to be conducted at home.

(The Chemical Heritage Museum in Philadelphia has one of the finest and most extensive collections of these, starting with those of Johann Gottling, 1791, and James Wodehouse, 1797.) There was a vogue for subscribing to courses of chemical lectures, chemical journals, and for joining Chemical clubs, many of which were finally grouped together as the Chemical Society of London in 1824. Indeed the cult of Chemistry became the object of some mockery. One journalist, William Weedon, had considerable fun at its expense in a little book entitled Popular Explanation of Chemistry, which appeared in 1825. A Chemical Philosopher was formerly a sort of wizard, a monster rarely to be seen; and then, in his gown and cap, or enshrined in the cloister of the University. It was his dread lest the vulgar understand him; lest, while he pretended to dazzle, and to be great, he should chance to be useful. The contemptible beings are now vanished, and Chemists are running to the opposite extreme. Note only are treatises of Philosophy and Chemistry met with in every quarter, but Beaux and their Ladies, all are now Chemists, or pretend to be so.

All are vying with each other in the ardour of experimenting and communication. Monthly, and even weekly Journals are teeming with experiments, and with real or supposed discoveries. (Jan Golinski, Science as Public Culture: Chemistry and Enlightenment in Britain 1760–1820, 1992, p. 255) But Davy's astonishing “chemical influence” can be traced in many and surprising directions far beyond the fashionable world of London. Possibly most significant of all, chemistry became a recognised part of children's education, just as astronomy had once been. The children's author Jane Marcet (1769–1858) was directly inspired by Davy to use chemistry as a new basis for enlightened teaching. From 1802 Marcet records that she began attending Davy's “excellent lectures” delivered at the Royal Institution. “Every fact or experiment” Davy produced, all his “numerous and elegant illustrations,” riveted her attention and lead on to a wider understanding of chemical theory. She grasped the enormous educational value of scientific discussion and demonstration, especially in chemistry.

She realized that the format of his lectures could be transferred into “familiar conversations,” which could prepare the mind of young readers (and especially female ones) “for abstract ideas or scientific language (Conversations on Chemistry, vol. 1, pp. vi–vii)”. Thus the first of celebrated Conversations in Science series was born. Encouraged by her husband Alexander Marcet, himself a Fellow of the Royal Society, she published the first truly best-selling scientific populariser for young people in 1806. Breezily entitled Conversations on Chemistry, in which the elements of that science are familiarly explained and illustrated by Experiments, it eventually sold as many books as the poetry of Lord Byron. Marcet popularised the chemical work of Cavendish, Black, Priestley and Davy on gases and the whole subject of “pneumatic chemistry.” But more than this, she presented chemistry as a new form of education, a course in both logical reasoning and speculative imagination, for “young persons.” Marcet re-invented the dialogue form as a series of imaginary scientific lessons between a teacher “Mrs B” (possible based on a famous astronomer tutor, Margaret Bryan) and her two young women pupils.

Emily is observant and rather serious, while Caroline is mischievous but inventive. (These are all emphasised as valuable qualities for a young scientist.) Caroline continually tempts Mrs B into the more imaginative aspects of science. While discussing the composition of water, Mrs B points out that oxygen has “greater affinity” for other elements than hydrogen. Caroline instantly grasps the romantic possibilities of this: “Hydrogen, I see, is like nitrogen, a poor dependent friend of oxygen, which is continually forsaken for greater favourites.” Mrs B starts to reply—“The connection or friendship as you choose to call it is much more intimate between oxygen and hydrogen in the state of water”—then sees where this is going, and hastily breaks off: “but this is foreign to our purpose.” With a suppressed giggle, Caroline has discovered “sexual chemistry,” and the reader will remember forever the composition of a water molecule: two hydrogen atoms in unrequited love with an oxygen atom (H2O). Caroline adds suggestively: “I should extremely [italics added] like to see water decomposed (Conversations on Chemistry, p. 156)”.

Jane Marcet went on to develop the Conversation brand in a whole series of other books on economy, botany, natural philosophy, and other scientific topics of the day. But it was one of the fifteen later editions of Conversations in Chemistry that inspired the great 19th century physicist Michael Faraday FRS to begin his career in science. Faraday started reading the book in 1810, while still working as an apprentice bookbinder, and later recalled: “I felt I had got hold of an anchor in chemical knowledge, and clung fast to it.” Yet in complete contrast, Davy's chemistry also came to represent a baleful possibility that had been barely conceived before this time. This was the paradoxical idea that science could also represent a menace to mankind, a profound threat to the whole future of society. Thus it was that Davy's lectures and writings also inspired the young novelist Mary Shelley. The first volume of Shelley's great catastrophe novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818) is largely the story of a young student's education in Chemistry. This is based upon several sources (including the experiences of her husband Percy Shelley at Oxford University), but primarily upon Davy's lectures in London.

While composing her novel in the winter of 1816–17, Mary Shelley's daily Journal records how she meticulously read and studied Davy's published lectures of 1802 and 1812. Indeed young Victor Frankenstein is inspired by lectures on the future of chemistry, delivered in the Anatomy Theatre at the University of Ingoldstat by the charismatic Professor Waldman. For these fictional lectures, Mary Shelley drew precisely on the text of Davy's “Discourse Introductory” of 1802 (as quoted above), in which he spoke of those future experiments in which man would “interrogate Nature with Power … as a master, active, with his own instruments.” Like Davy, Professor Waldman states: “Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been and may be made. …” Similarly, he expands on the idea of a new science: The ancient teachers of this science,” said [Waldman], “promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of life is a chimera.

But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of Nature, and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited Powers: they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadow. (Frankenstein, first edition, 1818, chapter 2) The fictional chemical student Victor Frankenstein is hypnotized by these ideas and conceives his terrible ambition to create a new being. Such were the Professor's words—rather let me say such the words of the Fate—enounced to destroy me. As he went on I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being. Chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, and one purpose. So much has been done!—exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein: more, far more will I achieve!

Treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown Powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of Creation. (Frankenstein, revised edition, 1831, chapter 3) The direct consequence, as everyone knows, was the creation of the most famous fictional “Monster” in history, and perhaps the most influential “demonization” of scientific hubris ever written. This too was part of the Chemical Moment. Yet finally it is fair to say that Davy's greatest bequest to science was Michael Faraday (1791–1867). Trained and mentored as a chemist by Davy at the Royal Institution, Faraday became the leading experimental scientists of the early 19th century. He was also one of the most inspired popularisers of science as a lecturer. Faraday carried on Davy's chemical work at the Royal Instruction for the next thirty years. He moved into the new discipline of electro-chemistry, investigating the whole area of electro-magnetic fields, and the creation of what was to become the electric generator. Faraday was a more withdrawn and private figure than Davy, and more of a professional scientist.

His publications and lectures were increasingly technical and specialised. Yet Faraday eventually produced one extraordinary work which carried on the great educational and popularising influence of his mentor. This was his famous lecture series “On the Chemical History of a Candle,” first given in 1848, but the fruit of a lifetime's work. It is in many ways the apogee of the discipline and philosophy of early 19th century chemistry. It was a masterly series of six lectures for young people, designed with unparalleled clarity and brilliance. Faraday explored and explained almost every known chemical feature of life on Earth, from simple combustion to the complex carbon cycle, through the exquisite analysis of a single candle burning. His charm, his simplicity and conviction is well caught in this edited version of his delightful opening: I purpose to bring before you the Chemical History of a Candle. I have taken this subject on a former occasion; and were it left to my own will, I should prefer to repeat it almost every year. There is not a law under which any part of this universe is governed which does not come into play, and is touched upon in these phenomena.

There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy, than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle. And before proceeding, let me say this also—that though our subject be so great, and our intention that of treating it honestly, seriously, and philosophically, yet I mean to pass away from all those who are seniors amongst us. I claim the privilege of speaking to juveniles as a juvenile myself. I have done so on former occasions—and, if you please, I shall do so again. And now, my boys and girls, I must first tell you of what candles are made. The lectures were eventually published—in lightly edited form—by none other than Charles Dickens in his large-circulation, popular magazine Household Words (1850). It was the final vindication of Davy's vision of the broad, progressive influence of chemistry throughout society. It is true that by this date the cutting edge of science had passed to classical Physics, and the great work of James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin. Yet the Chemical Moment had been handed on gloriously to the next generation in the shape of a single, radiant candle flame. It is burning brightly still.

Footnotes Available online until April 30, 2012. Received for publication August 24, 2011. Accepted for publication August 24, 2011. © 2011 The American Association for Clinical Chemistry named Sodium by the discoverer, and Natrium by Jakob Berzelius in 1813 History & Etymology Soda (Sodium carbonate, Na2CO3) from the Egyptian salt lakes, and Potash (Potassium carbonate, K2CO3), obtained from the ashes of plant material, were known since Antiquity and used for washing. There was made no difference between both substances, which were named by the Israelites neter, by the Greek νιτρον (nitron) and by the Romans nitrum (cf. Nitrogen ). Derived from these is the word natron, the name used by the European alchemists for potash and soda. In Arab, the same substances were named alkali (see Potassium / Kalium.) The name soda is a derivation from "sodanum", a Neolatin name for a headache remedy. This word is derived from Arabic Sudâ (soda).

The modern spelling of the element in Arabic uses the emphatic S (shown uppercase in transliteration) from the original Arabic word. The difference between both substances was recognized by Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709-1782) in 1758, among other he described the different colorations potash and soda produce in flame. In his "Démonstration de la possibilité de tirer les sels alcalis fixes du tartre, par le moyen des acides, sans employer l'action d'un feu véhément" (note) he named them alcali minerale (mineral alkali or soda) and alcali vegetabile (vegetable alkali or potash). These names were not generally accepted, and chemists used soda and potash for both substances.

Not satisfied with these names, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, suggested in his paper for the Royal Academy of Berlin of 26 January 1797, the name kali for potash and natron for soda (note) : (translation: The word potash, in the new chemical nomenclature upgraded to a generic name, can not claim general acceptance in Germany, since it has only a bad etymological value and merely finds its origin in the fact that in former years for burning out the condensed lye of wood ashes an iron pot (lower saxon Pott) was used in stead of the modern calcination oven. My proposal is: to determine the name Kali instead of the present names vegetable alkali, vegetable lye salt, potash etc.; and to return to its old name Natron instead of the names mineral alkali, soda etc.). Sodium or Natrium? Metallic Sodium, together with Potassium, was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) in 1807 using electrolysis of caustic soda (NaOH).

In the Bakerian lecture at the Royal Society of London on 19 November 1807 he made this discovery public (note) : "On this idea, in naming the bases of potash and soda, it will be proper to adopt the termination which, by common consent, has been applied to other newly discovered metals, and which, though originally Latin, is now naturalized in our language. Potassium and Sodium are the names by which I have ventured to call the two new substances: and whatever changes of theory, with regard to the composition of bodies may hereafter take place, these terms can scarcely express an error; for they may be considered as implying simply the metals produced from potash and soda. I have consulted with many of the most eminent scientific persons in this country, upon the methods of derivation, and the one I have adopted as been the one most generally approved. It is perhaps more significant than elegant.

But it was not possible to found names upon specific properties not common to both; and though a name for the basis of soda might have been borrowed from the Greek, yet an analogous one could not have been applied to that of potash, for the ancients do not seem to have distinguished between the two alkalies." The rather elaborate explanation of this choice for the two names suggests that Davy new that chemists in Germanic Europe had other ideas of naming the alkali metals. Gay-Lussac and Thénard, who too investigated the alkalis, named the metals initially métal de potasse and métal de soude, and later also Potassium and Sodium. The results of Davy's research were made public in German by Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert in his Annalen der Physik of 1809 (vol. 31). Many articles were translated by Gilbert himself, he calls his work a "free translation" since he added his own comments. I have not seen Gilbert's translation of Davy's article yet, since vol. 31 (vol. 1 of the new series) is not available in the Bibliotheca Gallica (it would be interesting to see how Gilbert translated the naming paragraph quoted above).

However, a note in a translation of a later article by Davy (note) makes clear what Gilbert's idea of a translation was: Translation: The reader will remember from these Annalen that Davy named these bodies Potassium, which I replaced by Kalium, just as Davy's name for the Natron-Metal, Sodium, is represented by Natronium, in agreement with the German nomenclature. These names I will use throughout this article. Gilbert obviously followed the 1797 proposal by Klaproth. In 1808 Gehlen suggested Kalin(um) and Natrin or Natrinmetall. In 1813 Berzelius published in a British journal, Thomas Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, his system of atomic symbols as one- or two-letter abbreviations of Latin names for the elements. In this first paper he followed the British discoverer Davy nomenclature and abbreviated Potassium and Sodium as Po and So. But within a year Berzelius decided in favor of Kalium and Natrium (he seems to be the first to use this shortened form of Natronium).

Despite this, as the list of names in different languages to the left shows, the English and French speaking countries followed Davy and Gay-Lussac/Thénard with Sodium and Potassium, and the Germanic countries adopted Gilbert/Klaproth's names Natrium and Kalium. Sodium Tellurate | AMERICAN ELEMENTS ® Tellurates About Sodium Tellurate is generally immediately available in most volumes. High purity, submicron and nanopowder forms may be considered. American Elements produces to many standard grades when applicable, including Mil Spec (military grade); ACS, Reagent and Technical Grade; Food, Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Grade; Optical Grade, USP and EP/BP (European Pharmacopoeia/British Pharmacopoeia) and follows applicable ASTM testing standards. Typical and custom packaging is available. Additional technical, research and safety (MSDS) information is available as is a Reference Calculator for converting relevant units of measurement.

Synonyms disodium tetraoxotellurate; Sodium tellurate VI; Telluric acid (H2TeO4), disodium salt; Disodium tellurate; CAS 26006-71-3 Chemical Identifiers 11 Na 22.989769280 Sodium See more Sodium products. Sodium (atomic symbol: Na, atomic number: 11) is a Block D, Group 5, Period 4 element with an atomic weight of 22.989769. The number of electrons in each of Sodium's shells is [2, 8, 1] and its electron configuration is [Ne] 3s1.The sodium atom has a radius of 185.8 pm and a Van der Waals radius of 227 pm. Sodium was discovered and first isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1807. In its elemental form, sodium has a silvery-white metallic appearance. It is the sixth most abundant element, making up 2.6 % of the earth's crust.

Sodium does not occur in nature as a free element and must be extracted from its compounds (e.g., feldspars, sodalite, and rock salt). The name Sodium is thought to come from the Arabic word suda, meaning "headache" (due to sodium carbonate's headache-alleviating properties), and its elemental symbol Na comes from natrium, its Latin name. Recent Research Top 11 famous inventions in Chemistry – TopYaps Share On Facbook Share on Twitter Chemistry is immensely intriguing. Had it not been for this wing of science, we may have still been deprived of a clear understanding of matter itself. Research in the field of chemistry alone has made us aware of the atmosphere, the earth and above all, us. From Alchemy to chemistry, the science has a history dating back to over 2500 years. Chemistry is a branch of physical science which is the study of the composition, properties and behaviour of matter. It is called “the central science” as it relates with physics, geology and biology. Let us thus read about some of the most significant inventions in this wonderful science of Chemistry.

The importance of inventions in chemistry is so important that we are forced to make this an 11 point list. 11. Jacobus Henricus van ‘t Hoff’s discovery of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure: The first winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry Jacobus Henricus van ‘t Hoff, Jr. helped the cause of chemistry by discovering the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. This helped in shaping the discipline of physical chemistry as it is today. This discovery proved that very dilute solutions follow mathematical laws that closely resemble the laws describing the behaviour of gases. (img source: sparknotes.com) 10. Discovery of Inert Gaseous Elements: The discovery of the Noble gases- neon, krypton, and xenon, later isolated helium observed in the spectrum of the sun and radon- is another milestone in the history of Chemistry. Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay who discovered these gases was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the year 1904 for the same. (img source: chemistry.about.com) 9.

Discovery of the Electron (1896): Johann Wilhelm Hittorf in the year 1869 discovered a glow emitted from a cathode that increases in size with pressure. Eventually in the year 1896 British physicist J. J. Thomson conducted experiments to prove that the cathode rays were made up of unique particles which he called corpuscles. These particles were eventually named Electrons; imperative to many branches of science and our understanding of atomic theory and quantum mechanics. (img source: malayalam.harunyahya.com) 8. Discovery of Radioactivity (1890s – 1900s): Radioactivity was first discovered in 1896 by the French scientist Henri Becquerel, while he was working on phosphorescent materials. It was initially thought to be similar to X-Rays but further investigation by chemists and scientists like Becquerel, Ernest Rutherford, Paul Villard, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, proved that this form of radioactivity was significantly more complicated. Madam Curie first isolated Uranium from its ore which eventually led to the discovery of polonium and radium.

(img source: baubiologie-umweltanalytik.de) 7. Discovery that atoms have signatures of light (1850s): Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen discovered that each element absorbs or emits light at specific wavelengths, producing specific spectra. This was an important discovery as it led to the understanding that colored flames could be differentiated by looking at their emission spectra through a prism. This eventually aided the fields of spectroscopy and the understanding of emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. (img source: uwgb.edu) 6. Transformation of Chemicals by Electricity (1807 – 1810): Discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals by Sir Humphry Davy proved that electricity transforms chemicals. Experiment with the use of electrical piles to separate salt that was performed at that time by him is today known as Electrolysis. Several new metals were discovered as a result of these experiments like sodium, potassium, magnesium, boron and barium. Also See (img source: britannica.com) 5. Publication of Periodic Table of the Elements (1860s – 1870s): Periodic Table is the tabular display of chemical elements .

Any student of chemistry begins his journey with this Periodic Table and hence the publication of the same is of utmost importance when one talks about the chronicles of Chemistry. Dmitri Mendeleev is credited with the first widely recognized periodic table which he made public in the year 1869. Mendeleev’s periodic table has over the years been developed and refined with the new inventions in chemistry. (img source: education.jlab.org) 4. The break into the study of Chemical Structure in 1850s: The study of molecular structure was brought to the forefront in the 1850s by Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz. With the chemical structure of benzene being figured out headway was possible in understanding the aromatic compounds, imperative eventually for both pure and applied chemistry as discovered in the subsequent years. (img source: faircompanies.com) 3. Atomic Theory: Atomic theory is defined as a theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms, as opposed to the obsolete notion that matter could be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity. John Dalton’s atomic theory as published in the year 1808 is a significant step in the evolution of chemistry.

The flaws in his theory were later corrected by Amedeo Avogadro to give us the Avogadro’s Principle. (img source: glogster.com) 2. Discovery of Oxygen: ‘Fire Gas’ or Oxygen was first discovered by Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1772 but no documentation was published regarding the same till 1777. It was a British clergyman Joseph Priestley who is thus given priority in the discovery as his findings were made known first in 1775. The discovery of Oxygen hence is of prime importance in the timeline of Chemistry. This eventually led to Lavoisier conclusively proving that Oxygen was a chemical element. (img source: gloopy.co.uk) 1. Synthesis of Urea: A German Chemist by the name of Friedrich Wöhler provided the biggest step in the field of Chemistry by synthesizing Urea for the first time.

In fact, this vital invention in Chemistry – creation of Urea – refuted the ‘belief or vitalism’ that all living things were alive due to some “special vital force!” This pioneering step of conversion of ammonium cyanate into urea in the year 1828 is certainly of mammoth historical significance as for the first time an organic compound was produced from inorganic reactants. This huge discovery led to the all important branch of Organic Chemistry. (img source: cnx.org)

Question: Which British chemist/inventor first isolated the chemical element sodium?
Answer: Humphrey Davy