Sodium

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 22990 Specific gravity 097