The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sodium \So"di*um\, n. [NL., fr.E. soda.] (Chem.) A common metallic element of the alkali group, in nature always occuring combined, as in common salt, in albite, etc. It is isolated as a soft, waxy, white, unstable metal, so highly reactive that it combines violently with water, and to be preserved must be kept under petroleum or some similar liquid. Sodium is used combined in many salts, in the free state as a reducer, and as a means of obtaining other metals (as magnesium and aluminium) is an important commercial product. Symbol Na ( Natrium). Atomic weight 22.990. Specific gravity 0.97.
Sodium amalgam, an alloy of sodium and mercury, usually produced as a gray metallic crystalline substance, which is used as a reducing agent, and otherwise.
Sodium carbonate, a white crystalline substance, Na2CO3.10H2O, having a cooling alkaline taste, found in the ashes of many plants, and produced artifically in large quantities from common salt. It is used in making soap, glass, paper, etc., and as alkaline agent in many chemical industries. Called also sal soda, washing soda, or soda. Cf. Sodium bicarbonate, and Trona.
Sodium chloride, common, or table, salt, NaCl.
Sodium hydroxide, a white opaque brittle solid, NaOH, having a fibrous structure, produced by the action of quicklime, or of calcium hydrate (milk of lime), on sodium carbonate. It is a strong alkali, and is used in the manufacture of soap, in making wood pulp for paper, etc. Called also sodium hydrate, and caustic soda. By extension, a solution of sodium hydroxide.
Wiktionary
n. (context chemistry English) A strong, caustic alkali, NaOH, used in the manufacture of soap, detergents, paper, textiles and having many other industrial applications.
WordNet
n. a strongly alkaline caustic used in manufacturing soap and paper and aluminum and various sodium compounds [syn: caustic soda]
Wikipedia
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound. It is a white solid and highly caustic metallic base and alkali of sodium which is available in pellets, flakes, granules, and as prepared solutions at different concentrations. Sodium hydroxide forms an approximately 50% (by mass) saturated solution with water.
Sodium hydroxide is soluble in water, ethanol, and methanol. This alkali is deliquescent and readily absorbs moisture and carbon dioxide in air.
Sodium hydroxide is used in many industries, mostly as a strong chemical base in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents and as a drain cleaner. Worldwide production in 2004 was approximately 60 million tonnes, while demand was 51 million tonnes.
Usage examples of "sodium hydroxide".
This light was no more than a mixture of luminol and sodium hydroxide in water, with potassium ferrocyanide and hydrogen peroxide added.
Putting ,graphite electrodes on either side of a bath of salt water generates sodium hydroxide, which is useful in making good-quality soap and is a basic chemical starting point for thousands of other things.
But you can do the same thing with thymolphthalein indicator and sodium hydroxide.
And cellulose acetate, which was very cheap, was another one we couldn't plate at first, though we finally discovered that putting it in sodium hydroxide for a little while before using the stannous chloride made it plate very well.
A home-made stink bomb can be made by mixing a batch of egg whites, Drano, (sodium hydroxide) and water.
The sodium joins up with fractured water molecules to form sodium hydroxide.
This is impractical for home use because the sodium hydroxide does not dissolve easily in ethanol, but for the industrial plant, sustained temperature and agitation of the mix will result in the compound needed.
If we hadn't spotted the sodium hydroxide and the heat, we couldn't have found the installation.
A textile processing plant in Mississippi State was pumping chemicals into the river, sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite and chlorine, all mixing with the river water and forming a deadly acidic cocktail.
The extracted air is driven up scrubbers - basically polypropylene chimneys filled with glass marbles down which sodium hydroxide trickles.
The gases are absorbed by the sodium hydroxide on the surface of the marbles and form a harmless liquid that can be disposed of safely.
The water that drips out contains sodium hydroxide, lye, which is a stronger cleanser.
We're trying to break down the salt using electricity to give us two chemicals called sodium hydroxide and chlorine.
With a second pipette, he applied a similar quantity of sodium hydroxide solution.
It gives a reddish-violet tinge to water made alkaline with a solution of sodium hydroxide.