Sodium (Na) – Periodic Table [Element Information & More]

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sodium element periodic table

Sodium element (Na) is in group 1 and period 3 of a periodic table. Sodium is in the s-block and it is classified as an alkali metal on the periodic table.

There is a lot more information related to sodium which is mentioned in the Information Table given below.

So let’s dive right into it!

Table of contents

Sodium Element (Information Table)

The important data related to sodium element is given in the table below.

Appearance of sodiumSilvery white
Atomic number of sodium11
Symbol of sodiumNa
Atomic mass of sodium22.990 u
Protons, Neutrons & Electrons in sodiumProtons: 11, Neutrons: 12, Electrons: 11
State of sodium (at STP)Solid
Group number of sodium in periodic table1
Period number of sodium in periodic table3
Block of sodium in periodic tables-block
Category of sodiumAlkali metal
Bohr model or Electrons per shell or Electrons arrangement in sodium2, 8, 1
Electron configuration of sodium[Ne] 3s1
Orbital diagram of sodiumorbital diagram of sodium
Valence electrons in sodium1
Electronegativity of sodium (on pauling scale)0.93
Atomic radius of sodium (van der Waals radius)227 picometers
Density of sodium0.97 g/cm3
1st ionization energy of sodium5.139 eV
Main isotope of sodium23Na
Melting point of sodium370.9 K or 97.7 °C or 208 °F
Boiling point of sodium1156 K or 882.9 °C or 1621.2 °F
Crystal structure of sodiumBody Centered Cubic (BCC)
Discovery of sodiumBy Humphry Davy in 1807

Also see: Interactive Periodic Table (It has rotating bohr models as well as many other details of all the 118 elements in a single periodic table).

Sodium element in Periodic table

The Sodium element (Na) has the atomic number 11 and is located in group 1 and period 3. Sodium is in solid state at STP and it is classified as an alkali metal on the periodic table.

Click on above elements in the periodic table to see their information.

Facts about sodium

Here are a few interesting facts about sodium element.

  1. Sodium is a soft metal and it can be cut with a knife.
  2. Sodium floats on water because it has less density than that of water.
  3. Sodium is also present in the human body, and it maintains the fluid balance in the body cells.
  4. Sodium is the most abundant alkali metal.
  5. Sodium is the 6th most abundant element found from the earth’s crust.
  6. Around 2.3% of the earth’s crust contains sodium element.

Properties of sodium

Here is a list of some physical properties and chemical properties of sodium.

Physical properties of sodium

  • Sodium is a soft metal having a silvery white appearance.
  • It is soft metal and it can be cut with a knife.
  • Sodium metal is a good conductor of electricity as it has only 1 valence electron.
  • The melting point and boiling point of sodium are 97.7 °C and 882.9 °C respectively.
  • There are many isotopes of sodium, but out of those isotopes, the most stable isotope is 23Na.

Chemical properties of sodium

  • Sodium is a reactive metal and it forms an oxide layer if kept open in the air.
  • As sodium is a reactive metal, it is not found in free state. But it is always found in the compound with other elements.
  • When sodium metal is burnt in a flame, it produces a golden-yellow flame.
  • The sodium has an electron configuration [Ne] 3s1 and it has only 1 valence electron.
  • Sodium forms various compounds like NaCl, Na2CO3, NaOH, NaNO3, etc.

Uses of sodium

Here are some uses of the sodium element.

  • Sodium is largely used in making NaCl, Na2CO3, NaOH and other useful compounds.
  • Sodium bicarbonate is used in baking as well as in sodablasting.
  • Sodium has a high thermal conductivity and so the liquid sodium metal is used as a heat transfer fluid in sodium-cooled fast reactors.

External resources:

  1. P. (n.d.). Sodium | Na (Element) – PubChem. Sodium | Na (Element) – PubChem. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/element/Sodium
  2. Sodium – Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table. (n.d.). Sodium – Element Information, Properties and Uses | Periodic Table. https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/11/sodium
  3. Sodium – Wikipedia. (2016, October 15). Sodium – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium
  4. It’s Elemental – The Element Sodium. (n.d.). It’s Elemental – the Element Sodium. https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele011.html
  5. Periodic Table of Elements: Los Alamos National Laboratory. (n.d.). Periodic Table of Elements: Los Alamos National Laboratory. https://periodic.lanl.gov/11.shtml
  6. Atomic Weight of Sodium | Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights. (n.d.). Atomic Weight of Sodium | Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights. https://ciaaw.org/sodium.htm
  7. Sodium | Na | ChemSpider. (n.d.). Sodium | Na | ChemSpider. http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.4514534.html?rid=8b2ecc1e-0c96-4978-b9d7-99796c3c6bdc&page_num=0
  8. C&EN: IT’S ELEMENTAL: THE PERIODIC TABLE – SODIUM. (n.d.). C&EN: IT’S ELEMENTAL: THE PERIODIC TABLE – SODIUM. https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/80th/sodium.html?
  9. Atomic Data for Sodium (Na). (n.d.). Atomic Data for Sodium (Na). https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Handbook/Tables/sodiumtable1.htm
  10. Haynes, W. M. (Ed.). (2014, June 4). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. https://doi.org/10.1201/b17118
  11. Emsley, J. (2011). Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. United Kingdom: OUP Oxford.
  12. Sansonetti, J. E., & Martin, W. C. (2005, December). Handbook of Basic Atomic Spectroscopic Data. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 34(4), 1559–2259. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1800011
  13. Bondi, A. (1964, March). van der Waals Volumes and Radii. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 68(3), 441–451. https://doi.org/10.1021/j100785a001
  14. James A. M. & Lord M. P. (1992). Macmillan’s chemical and physical data. Macmillan.
  15. Holden, et al. (2018, December 1). IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure and Applied Chemistry, 90(12), 1833–2092. https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0703
  16. Allred, A. (1961, June). Electronegativity values from thermochemical data. Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, 17(3–4), 215–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1902(61)80142-5
  17. Kaye, G W.C., & Laby, T H. Tables of physical and chemical constants. 15th Edition. United States.
  18. Zhang, Y., Evans, J. R. G., & Yang, S. (2011, January 11). Corrected Values for Boiling Points and Enthalpies of Vaporization of Elements in Handbooks. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, 56(2), 328–337. https://doi.org/10.1021/je1011086
  19. Possolo, A., van der Veen, A. M. H., Meija, J., & Hibbert, D. B. (2018, January 4). Interpreting and propagating the uncertainty of the standard atomic weights (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure and Applied Chemistry, 90(2), 395–424. https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-0402
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Jay Rana

Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. With a desire to make learning accessible for everyone, he founded Knords Learning, an online chemistry learning platform that provides students with easily understandable explanations.

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