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Reaction Between Na and Cl

  • Page ID
    3032
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    Chemical Concepts Demonstrated

    • Metal/nonmetal/ionic chemistry

    Demonstration

    • A large glass flask with sand covering the bottom is filled with Cl2 gas.
    • Hot sodium metal is plunged into the flask.
    nacl.gif

    Observations

    The metal bursts into flames.

    Explanation (including important chemical equations)

    The sodium reacts with the chlorine in the flask to create NaCl. The reaction's driving forces are shown below:

    Heat of Sublimation [Na(s) -> Na(g)]: 107.3 kJ/mol

    1st Ionization Energy [Na(g) -> Na+(g) + e-]: 495.8 kJ/mol

    Bond Dissociation Enthalpy [1/2 Cl2(g) -> Cl(g)]: 121.7 kJ/mol

    Electron Affinity [Cl(g) + e- -> Cl-(g)]: -348.8 kJ/mol

    Lattice Energy [Na+(g) + Cl-(g)]: -787.3 kJ/mol

    Overall reaction [Na(s) + 1/2 Cl2(g) -> NaCl(s)]: -411.3 kJ/mol

    It should be noted that this reaction proceeds because the overall reaction gives off energy (in this case, in the form of light and heat). The same is not true in an attempt to create an NaCl2 compound. Although the chlorine's electron affinity step would then give off twice as much energy, the ionization energy required to make an Na2+ ion is so large that the overall reaction would not be thermodynamically favorable.

    Contributors


    Reaction Between Na and Cl is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Bodner.

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