2) Element symbol: Na
 

3) Number of electrons, protons, and neutrons: 11 electron, 11 proton, 12 neutrons
 

4) Atomic number: 11
 

5) Atomic mass: 22.98977
 

6) Characteristics:

Elemental sodium is a highly reactive, silver-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife. It oxidizes immediately on exposure to air and reacts violently with water, forming sodium hydroxide and hydrogen.
 

7)

History:

Sodium was discovered in 1807 by the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy.

Three things made from the element:

- used in the manufacture of tetraethyl lead and as a cooling agent in nuclear reactors.

Sodium hydroxide, known commercially as soda lye or caustic soda is used in the manufacture of

- soap

- rayon

- paper, in oil refining

- textile industries

- rubber industries
 

8) Isotopes:

Natural sodium is the stable isotope of mass 23. Of the six radioactive, artificial isotopes, sodium-22 (2.6-year half-life) is used as a radioactive tracer for natural sodium, sodium-24 (15-hour half-life) is limited in use by its short life, and the rest have half-lives of a minute or less.
 

9) Sodium is found in nature only in the combined state. It occurs in the ocean and salt lakes as sodium chloride, and less often as sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate.
 

10) Sodium melts at about 98 °C (208 °F) and boils at about 883 °C (about 1621 °F).