LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sodium: Sodium Chloride
built 607 days ago
Sodium intake is recommended to be less than 3,000 milligrams daily. One teaspoon of table salt contains about 2,000 milligrams of sodium. The difference between "sodium" and "salt" can be confusing. Sodium is a mineral found in various foods including table salt. Table salt is 40% sodium (sodium chloride). People with high blood pressure (hypertension) may be instructed by their doctor or dietitian to reduce sodium intake.
Source:
Sodium chloride... known as [C]ommon salt, table salt, or halite, is a chemical compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms. As the major ingredient in edible salt, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. In one gram of sodium chloride, there are approximately 0.3933 grams of sodium, and 0.6067 grams of chlorine.
Source:
Sodium reacts quickly with water, and ... with snow and ice, to produce sodium hydroxide and hydrogen. When it’s exposed to air, metallic sodium recently cut looses its silvery appearance and acquires an opaque grey colour due to the formation of a sodium oxide coating. Sodium doesn’t react with nitrogen, not even at very high temperatures, but it can react with ammonia to form sodium amide. Sodium and hydrogen react above 200ºC (390ºF) to form sodium hydride. Sodium hardly reacts with carbon, but it does react with halogens. It also reacts with various metallic halides to form the metal and sodium chloride.
Source:
Sodium ranks sixth in abundance among all the elements in the Earth's crust, which contains 2.83% sodium in combined form. Only oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, and calcium are more abundant. Sodium is, after chlorine, the second most abundant element in solution in seawater. The important sodium salts found in nature include sodium chloride (rock salt), sodium carbonate (soda and trona), sodium borate (borax), sodium nitrate (Chile saltpeter), and sodium sulfate. Sodium salts are found in seawater, salt lakes, alkaline lakes, and mineral springs. See ... Alkali metals.
Source:
Sodium chloride is sold in several different particle sizes (gradation) and forms, depending on the intended end use. Discrete crystals can be seen in rock salt used for deicing. Fine granules are typical of table salt and even finer popcorn salt. Kosher salt, pickling salt and ice cream salt are slightly coarser. Small compressed pellets are used in water softeners and large salt blocks are used as salt licks for livestock. When viewed under strong magnification, all sodium chloride is crystalline.
Source:
Sodium is found in nature only in the combined state. It occurs in the ocean and in salt lakes as sodium chloride, NaCl, and less often as sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, and sodium sulfate, Na2SO4. Sodium is prepared commercially by the electrolytic decomposition of fused sodium chloride. Sodium ranks seventh in order of abundance of the elements in Earth's crust. It is a necessary constituent of plant and animal tissue.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Sodium Chloride