why does Sodium have the symbol Na in the Periodic Table?
399030
The naming of elements precedes the atomic theory of matter, although at the time it was not known which chemicals were elements and which compounds. When it was learned, existing names (e.g., gold, mercury, iron) were kept in most countries, and national differences emerged over the names of elements either for convenience, linguistic niceties, or nationalism. For example, the Germans use "Wasserstoff" for "hydrogen" and "Sauerstoff" for "oxygen," while some romance languages use "natrium" for "sodium" and "kalium" for "potassium," and the French prefer the obsolete but historic term "azote" for "nitrogen."\nThe current system of chemical notation was invented by Berzelius. In this typographical system chemical symbols are not used as mere abbreviations - though each consists of letters of the Latin alphabet - they are symbols intended to be used by peoples of all languages and alphabets. The first of these symbols were intended to be fully universal; since Latin was the common language of science at that time, they were abbreviations based on the Latin names of metals - Fe comes from Ferrum, Ag from Argentum. The symbols were not followed by a period (full stop) as abbreviations were. Later chemical elements were also assigned unique chemical symbols, based on the name of the element, but not necessarily in English. For example, sodium has the chemical symbol 'Na' after the Latin natrium. The same applies to "W" (wolfram) for tungsten, "Hg" (hydrargyrum) for mercury, "K" (kalium) for potassium, and "Sb" (stibium) for antimony.
1144064
Sodium (English, soda) has long been recognized in compounds, but was not isolated until 1807 by Sir Humphry Davy through the electrolysis of caustic soda. In medieval Europe a compound of sodium with the Latin name of sodanum was used as a headache remedy. Sodium's symbol, Na, comes from the neo-Latin name for a common sodium compound named natrium, which comes from the Greek nítron, a kind of natural salt. As early as 1860 Kirchhoff and Bunsen noted the sensitivity that a flame test for sodium could have. Stating in Annalen der Physik und der Chemie in the paper "Chemical Analysis by Observation of Spectra": "In a corner of our 60 cu.m. room farthest away from the apparatus, we exploded 3 mg. of sodium chlorate with milk sugar while observing the nonluminous flame before the slit. After a few minutes, the flame gradually turned yellow and showed a strong sodium line that disappeared only after 10 minutes. From the weight of the sodium salt and the volume of air in the room, we easily calculate that one part by weight of air could not contain more than 1/20 millionth weight of sodium."
787026
sodium most active\nthen lead\nplatinum very inactive\n\nThat's the order they would occur in on any activity series.  Plus, sodium is on the left of the periodic table so it's most active.  Explodes in water.  Platinum never corrodes, that's why it's used in jewelry.
280779
sodium has atomic no.11\ne.c 2,8,1\nit needs to lose electron to become stable.thus it acquires a +1 chargemaking it Na(+1).\nChlorine has the atomic no 17\ne.c is 2,8,7\nit needs to gain one electron to become stable.thus it acquires a negative charge making it Cl(1-)\ncalcium has atomic no 20\ne.c is 2,8,8,2\nit needs to lose 2 electrons to become stable,thus it acquires a +2 charge making it Ca(+2)\noxygen has atomic no 8\ne.c 2,6\nneeds to gain two electrons to become stable.thus it acquires a -2 charge making it O(-2)\nCarbon has atomic no 6\ne.c 2,4\nit is difficult to gain or lose 4 electrons due to energy considerations.so it usually shares to become stable.thus ,it usually does not form an ion.\nneon has atomic no 10\ne.c is 2,8\nit is already stable and so does not need to lose or gain electrons and hence does not form any ions
123587
Periodic Table is in order of increasing atomic no. so\n\n1st Step: find the placement of the element, in the present case it is on third place so no. of protons is three.\n\n2nd Step: In the Periodic Table, number of electron is always equal to number of protons so far three protons of Lithium there will be three electrons.\n\n3rd Step: Periodic Table also give atomic weights of the elements. Simply atomic weight is equal to sum of number of protons and nutroms.\n\n4th Step: Note the atomic weight of the element. Most of the elements in Periodic Table show atomic weights in fractions. In the case of Lithium it is 6.9 \n\n5th Step: Convert the fractional figure into nearest whole number. In case of Lithium it is 7\nNote:In the Periodic Table atomic weight is average of all isotopes (different atomic weights of same element). The nearest whole number refers to the most abundent  or the common atom (Isotop).\n\n6th Step: Subtract atomic number (protons) from atomic weight (neutron=proton), the difference is number of neutrons. In Lithium 7-3=4 so there are 4 neutrons
426762
you know its ionic because Na is a metal while Cl isnt. a metal and nonmetal almost always from an ionic bond. to draw a lewis digram, determine how many valence electons are in each and draw the diagram.. its kinda hard to explain without actually drawing it.. consult a chem bk.
544737
Sodium in it's metallic form is extremely reactive with water.  Setting out some sodium can cause spontaneous combustion if the humidity is high or its sits long enough in moderate humidity.  Pure sodium is extremely reactive.  Sodium salts (like table salt) are much less reactive than pure sodium.  Their reactivities are dependant on the anion... (carbonates, Chlorine, nitrates...)
48857
Some of the elements were once known by different names than are current, such as Plumbus (Lead), that is why the symbol for ead is Pb.  Also, Sodium used to be known as Natrium, hence Na. etc, etc, etc.
783612
No idea what your saying, but NaCl does form crystal lattices which are like perfect cubes because every Na is bonded front and back, side to side, and other side to other side with a Cl therefore forming a cube like structure. Check out the picture in the website listed below, Cl is green Na is gray.
697931
Check the Periodic Chart and find element 74.  That's the symbol to use, and its ion will be +6
679382
Jaleesa, I think that you can use the same principle that I explained in the earlier question. The Sodium ion has fewer electrons and fewer shells, and is thus smaller than the potassium ion. But I think you should do the rest of your homework yourself.
841809
Actually the answer to this question is slightly more complicated than the average cynic would have it.  (By the way, sodium is a metal).\n\nMetals have several properties common to them:\n1.  They conduct electricity\n2.  They are ductile, and malleable\n3.  They are GENERALLY white and lustrous (few exceptions, such as copper, gold...lustrous but yellow/red)\n4.  They conduct electricity and heat very well.\n5.  They have generally low electronegativities compared to non-metals.\n\nFor non-metals, reverse these properties and you have a good physical description.  E.g.  They don't conduct electricity or heat very well, they're not malleable or ductile, they're generally not lustrous, their electronegativities are relatively high, etc.  \n\nYou find most metals GENERALLY to the left on the Periodic Table, while you find non-metals generally to the right.  That notable jagged line you see on many periodic table examples is said to divide the two categories, but it's a fuzzy line at best.  There are metalloids, for example, that contain SOME properties of each, making life interesting for us chemists who like to classify things.
1171326
Alkali metals are the elements in the first column of the periodic table they lose one electron to from cations of a +1 charge, while alkali earth metals are the elements in the second column of the periodic table and the give up two electrons to form cations of a +2 charge
638651
An electron pair acceptor is a Lewis Acid, while a electron Pair donor is a Lewis Base. Sodium wants to give its electron away because that is the easiest way to make itself electronically more like a noble gas, therefore it is a Lewis base compared to Chlorine. Chlorine wants to accept an electron to make itself more like a noble gas, therefore it is a lewis acid compared to sodium. also see electronegativity, and electron affinity.\n\nhttp://www.abacusscience.com/electronegativity.html\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_acid
713783
The alkali metals and the alkali earth metals are the the first columns appearing the periodic table.  Each of the elements found in these groups has the ability to lose electrons, thus making them cations (they become positively charged by losing a negative charge).\n\nHowever, all elements need to have a complete valence shell, which means that their outermost electron shell must be full.  Any deficiency or excess of electrons in their outermost ring will make the elements either lose the excess electrons or gain more in order to completely fill their outermost electron shell.\n\nHydrogen, which is the first element in the periodic table, has only 1 electron.  If Hydgrogen donates this electron, it becomes known as a proton, usually denoted as H+.  If you are writing out equations, H+ will work fine.  Remember, with only one electron, a Hydrogen atom is only composed of one electron and one proton.  \n\nOther than Hydrogen, almost no element will completely lose all of its electrons.
570227
Na is larger than Na+.\nF is larger than F+.\nCations are always smaller than the parent atom as the effective nuclear charge acting on an electron increases as the total number of electrons decreases.\nIn the case of Na&Na+,Na+ has one whole shell lesser than Na.
664759
It's Ionic if thats what you were looking for because sodium is an alkali metal (group 1) and Iodine is a halogen (group 17). Iodine forms an I- ion (this is an anion) and Na forms an Na+ ion (a cation) so they combine on a 1:1 ratio and the formula is NaI