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Asked by jjfarooq to Tom, Tim, Sarah, Derek, Dalya on 19 Jun 2011.
Question: whats unusual about sodium
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Sarah Thomas answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Sodium facts:
1) it’s really soft
2) it’s not naturally occuring on earth because it oxidises in air, so it has to be isolated from sodium hydroxide.
3) sodium is essential for all animal life, including humans. It is responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses.
4) it changes colour at high temperatures: at 1.5 megabar it turns transparent red!
5) it explodes when it comes into contact with water 🙂
6) it produces a bright yellow flame in the flame test
7) sodium can be created by nuclear fusion in stars.
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Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Great answers from Sarah… lots I didn’t know. But I am a bit concerned about the smilie she put after point number 5. Do you think she may have tried this… more than once?
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Tim Millar answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Its used in nerves to allow a nerve impulse to pass and a lot of drugs anaesthetics are designed to stop it entering nerves like lidocain.
It is also responsible for our control of water regulation in the kidney. Where the sodium goes, the water follows. So if we need to loose water in our wee, we first loose sodium and the water follows it out down the drain.
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Tom Crick answered on 19 Jun 2011:
Definitely the best bit about sodium (a silvery white metal, a member of the alkali metals) at school was seeing how it reacts violently with water!
Sodium is an essential element for all animal life (including human) and for some plant species. In animals, sodium ions are used with potassium ions to allow the organism to build up an electrostatic charge on cell membranes, and thus allow transmission of nerve impulses when the charge is allowed to dissipate. So we need sodium and potassium to function!
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