Sodium carbonate: formula, properties, production

Soda calcined - this substance, of course,familiar to everyone and almost everyone knows at least a few examples of where it can be applied. The official name of the substance is sodium carbonate, the formula is Na2CO3. Externally calcined soda is a white powder, can be represented and in the form of granules of the same color. There is another name for this compound - soda ash, but there should not be any misconceptions about this in the sense that it is not the same habit that is familiar to us, in everyday life, soda. So it is also called because the preparation of the substance is associated with the process of calcination - dehydration of sodium hydrate under high temperature.

Carbonic soda is one of the oldest knownsubstances in the history of mankind. Still artifacts of Ancient Egypt contain information about the substance of sodium carbonate, the formula of which, of course, was written much later. Papyrus tells us that in Egypt this compound was obtained from lakes, as well as from ash produced from the burning of plants containing alkalis. It should be noted that Egypt remained the largest producer and supplier of soda to the world market until the end of the XVII century, becoming a global maritime power, Spain was joined by Spain as the leading supplier of soda ash. Industrialization, the development of new industries required more and more of this valuable substance, and therefore in 1775 the French Academy, on the initiative of famous encyclopaedists, organized an open tender for the development of an industrial method for producing carbonic acid soda. The winner of this "chemical competition" was the famous French pharmacist and experimental scientist Nikolai Leblan, who for the first time in 1792 received industrial sodium carbonate, the formula of which he recorded as Na2CO3. The work of Leblanc was a reaction to obtain a substance from sodium chloride with the participation of natural mixtures of chalk and sodium sulfate. The reaction resulted in a melt consisting of Na2C03 and CaS, from which sodium carbonate was leached and the formula of the substance was Na2CO3.

The method of Leblanc for a long time became the mainindustry. According to some researchers, the construction of soda factories led to the growth of urban agglomerations and the concentration of the population in cities. Soda production also contributed to the development of other areas of the chemical industry, for example, such as the production of sulfuric and nitric acids.

The development of soda production contributed to the development of raw materials for the extraction of sulfur pyrite, sodium chloride, and saltpetre.

Only half a century later the Leblanc method aroserival is the ammonia way of soda production. It was a step forward, so it required less labor, heat, raw materials, and, as a result, was much cheaper.

It was the price reduction of production that facilitatedthe appearance of a compound such as sodium hydrogencarbonate, the production of which promoted the expansion of its application already in the form of a food product, now known as the food additive E-500 - baking soda.

Chemical properties of carbonic acid are as follows. The substance is hygroscopic, that is, it absorbs moisture very well, as for sure, not once, everyone was convinced.

In addition to water, it absorbs carbon dioxide,which is in the air. This should be taken into account when storing the substance. The nature of the interaction of soda with liquids depends, mainly, on the level of humidity and temperature.

When the compound is heated, it decomposes intocarbon dioxide and oxide. Soda reacts with acids, for example, sodium carbonate, hydrochloric acid, as a result of the interaction between themselves, form carbon dioxide.

Sodium carbonate is used in industrialmanufacture of glass, varnishes and paints, soaps and detergents. Its properties make it possible to use this compound for oil refining, paper making, caustic soda and sodium salt production.