Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos

sodium: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

News •

Scientists discover a natural compound that could protect the brain from too much salt • Oct. 18, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (Science Daily)
Astronomers discover the 1st ever green star, a cosmic zombie just in time for Halloween • Oct. 15, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (Space)

Facts

Also Known As Na • natrium

Photos

A labeled diagram shows the periodic table entry for sodium, highlighting its symbol Na, atomic number 11, atomic weight, electron configuration, physical state as a solid, body-centered cubic crystal structure, and strongly basic oxide properties.
Sir Humphry Davy
sodium-vapour lamp bulb
sodium chloride
Baking soda spilling from a glass jar onto a wooden surface, with a cork lid nearby and a wooden spoon holding some of the white powder.
evaporator
Line graph showing the first ionization energies of the elements as a function of atomic number, with peaks at noble gases like helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, and labeled elements at key points.
Diagram showing a sodium ion (Na+) at the center surrounded by a hydration shell of water molecules, with labels indicating the partially ordered region around the ion and the transition to bulk water farther away.
Diagram showing the formation of an ionic bond between sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) atoms. Sodium loses an electron to become Na+, chlorine gains an electron to become Cl-, resulting in sodium chloride (NaCl), or table salt.
See All Images and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy
English chemist
Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, engraving by Ambroise Tardieu.
Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac
French scientist
default image
Rudolf Fittig
German chemist

Related Quizzes

Concept artwork on the periodic table of elements.
118 Names and Symbols of the Periodic Table Quiz
Illustration of molecules. (molecular, chemistry, science)
So Much Chemistry, So Little Time Quiz
Periodic Table of the elements concept image (chemistry)
Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz