Sodium and Aluminium - Comparison - Properties

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

sodium and aluminium - comparison

Compare sodium with another element

Compare aluminium with another element

Sodium and Aluminium – About Elements

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.

Aluminium

Aluminium is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth’s crust; it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below.

Sodium in Periodic Table

Aluminium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Sodium and Aluminium – Applications

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.

Aluminium

Aluminium and its alloys are used widely in aerospace, automotive, architectural, lithographic, packaging, electrical and electronic applications. It is the prime material of construction for the aircraft industry throughout most of its history. About 70% of commercial civil aircraft airframes are made from aluminium alloys, and without aluminium civil aviation would not be economically viable. Automotive industry now includes aluminium as engine castings, wheels, radiators and increasingly as body parts. 6111 aluminium and 2008 aluminium alloy are extensively used for external automotive body panels. Cylinder blocks and crankcases are often cast made of aluminium alloys.

Sodium and Aluminium – Comparison in Table

Element	Sodium	Aluminium
Density	0.968 g/cm3	2.7 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	90 MPa (pure), 600 MPa (alloys)
Yield Strength	N/A	11 MPa (pure), 400 MPa (alloys)
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	10 GPa	70 GPa
Mohs Scale	0.4	2.8
Brinell Hardness	0.69 MPa	240 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	167 MPa
Melting Point	97.8 °C	660 °C
Boiling Point	883 °C	2467 °C
Thermal Conductivity	141 W/mK	137 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	71 µm/mK	23.1 µm/mK
Specific Heat	1.23 J/g K	0.9 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	2.598 kJ/mol	10.79 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	96.96 kJ/mol	293.4 kJ/mol