Sodium and Chlorine - Comparison - Properties

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

sodium and chlorine - comparison

Compare sodium with another element

Compare chlorine with another element

Sodium and Chlorine – 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.

Chlorine

Chlorine is a yellow-green gas at room temperature. It is an extremely reactive element and a strong oxidising agent: among the elements, it has the highest electron affinity and the third-highest electronegativity, behind only oxygen and fluorine.

Sodium in Periodic Table

Chlorine in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Sodium and Chlorine – 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.

Chlorine

Chlorine is used in the manufacture of a wide range of consumer products, about two-thirds of them organic chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), many intermediates for the production of plastics, and other end products which do not contain the element. As a common disinfectant, elemental chlorine and chlorine-generating compounds are used more directly in swimming pools to keep them sanitary. While perhaps best known for its role in providing clean drinking water, chlorine chemistry also helps provide energy-efficient building materials, electronics, fiber optics, solar energy cells, 93 percent of life-saving pharmaceuticals, 86 percent of crop protection compounds, medical plastics, and much more.

Sodium and Chlorine – Comparison in Table

Element	Sodium	Chlorine
Density	0.968 g/cm3	0.0032 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	10 GPa	N/A
Mohs Scale	0.4	N/A
Brinell Hardness	0.69 MPa	N/A
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	97.8 °C	-101 °C
Boiling Point	883 °C	-34.6 °C
Thermal Conductivity	141 W/mK	0.0089 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	71 µm/mK	N/A
Specific Heat	1.23 J/g K	0.48 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	2.598 kJ/mol	3.23 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	96.96 kJ/mol	10.2 kJ/mol