Darius Wallace

10/23/13

Honors Project

NaCl or Sodium Chloride is a compound made up of elements on periodic table. It has three names which are sodium chloride, halite, and salt. Salt is one of the necessities of life. When salt is out of your diet you start to crave salt. The Latin word sal means salary, thus Ancient Rome used salt to pay soldiers. Pure halite is colorless, but it is colored by impurities. Halite crystalizes in the isometric crystal form. When it is formed into a crystal it generally forms a cube. The most important physical feature of halite is that it is really soluble in water. Lets stop there because we are going to come back to the great things of salt. All the information received on sodium chloride can be found in the references on the last page. The chemical features of salt can be put together easily. The atomic weight of Sodium is 22.989768. The atomic weight of Chlorine is 35.4527. When you combine the two together you get the atomic weight of salt, which is 58.4428. The density of salt is 2.165 g/mL. Salts melting point is 800.8 degrees Celsius, which is 1,473.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The boiling point of salt is 1,465 degrees Celsius, which is 2,669 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezing point of salt is degrees Celsius, which is -6.016 degrees Fahrenheit. The color of salt ranges from clear to white. Also it is really soluble in water. The type of bond that is used for salt is an ionic bond. This bond is formed because sodium is a metal and chlorine is a non-metal. Also Chlorine is halogens, so it only needs one -21.12

more electron to become stable. Therefore, sodium transfers one of its electrons to Chlorine. Then the compound NaCl or Salt is formed. There are many different uses for salt today. Forty percent of salt is used for the production of chlorine and caustic soda. Salt is the feedstock for the chor-alkali chemical industry, just as oil is for the petrochemical industry. Salt also is used for rubber manufacturing. It separates rubber from latex. Also salt is used for animal hide processing and leather tanning. Salt is used to cure, preserve, and tan animal hides. Salt is also used for food processing and cooking. If Sodium Chloride gets into your eyes, flush eyes with water for 15 minutes. If it comes in contact with your skin, wash the area with soap and hot water for 15 minutes. If Sodium Chloride is ingested, drink 2-4 cups of milk or water. Make sure you are wearing appropriate clothing or proper lab wear. Goggles, gloves, and certain tools should be used to manipulate Sodium Chloride the correct way. Be careful what you do with Sodium Chloride. If you play around with it, you could hurt someone else and maybe even hurt yourself. So be careful and have fun. Hope this gives you a good explanation of the information on Sodium Chloride. Kaufmann, Dale W. Sodium Chloride: the production and properties of salt and brine. New York. Hafner Publishing, 1968 Eskew, Garnett L. Salt: The Fifth Element. Chicago. J.G Ferguson and Associates, 1948 (http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.5044.html)

(http://www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals/salt) (http://www.saltinstitute.org/)