Oxygen and Sodium - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of oxygen and sodium, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Oxygen vs Sodium.

oxygen and sodium - comparison

Compare oxygen with another element

Compare sodium with another element

Oxygen and Sodium – About Elements

Oxygen

Oxygen is a colourless, odourless reactive gas, the chemical element of atomic number 8 and the life-supporting component of the air. It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. By mass, oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium.

Sodium

Sodium is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table, because it has a single electron in its outer shell that it readily donates, creating a positively charged atom—the Na+ cation.

Oxygen in Periodic Table

Sodium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Oxygen and Sodium – Applications

Oxygen

Common uses of oxygen include production of steel, plastics and textiles, brazing, welding and cutting of steels and other metals, rocket propellant, oxygen therapy, and life support systems in aircraft, submarines, spaceflight and diving. Smelting of iron ore into steel consumes 55% of commercially produced oxygen. In this process, oxygen is injected through a high-pressure lance into molten iron, which removes sulfur impurities and excess carbon as the respective oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Uptake of oxygen from the air is the essential purpose of respiration, so oxygen supplementation is used in medicine. Treatment not only increases oxygen levels in the patient’s blood, but has the secondary effect of decreasing resistance to blood flow in many types of diseased lungs, easing work load on the heart.

Sodium

Metallic sodium is used mainly for the production of sodium borohydride, sodium azide, indigo, and triphenylphosphine. A once-common use was the making of tetraethyllead and titanium metal; because of the move away from TEL and new titanium production methods. An electric current and sodium vapor combine to form a yellowish glow. This principle is used for the making of sodium vapor lamps. Sodium is occasionally used as a heat exchange medium in nuclear power plants. Liquid sodium is sealed into pipes surrounding the reactor core. Generated heat is absorbed by sodium and forced through the pipes in a heat exchanger which can be used to generate electricity.

Oxygen and Sodium – Comparison in Table

Element	Oxygen	Sodium
Density	0.00125 g/cm3	0.00143 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	N/A
Mohs Scale	N/A	N/A
Brinell Hardness	N/A	N/A
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	-209.9 °C	-218.4 °C
Boiling Point	-195.8 °C	-183 °C
Thermal Conductivity	0.02598 W/mK	0.02674 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	N/A	N/A
Specific Heat	1.04 J/g K	0.92 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	(N2) 0.7204 kJ/mol	(O2) 0.444 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	(N2) 5.56 kJ/mol	(O2) 6.82 kJ/mol