13 October: 10 Facts about Sodium

On this date in 1807 English scientist Humphry Davy discovered Sodium by electrolysing caustic soda. 10 things you might not know about sodium:

1. Sodium is a silvery-white alkali metal with the atomic number 11 and the symbol Na. (Do you know any sodium jokes? Na.) There are 20 known isotopes but only 23Na is stable.
2. Why Na? It derives from the Latin word natrium Arabic word natrun, which means sodium carbonate.
3. The common name sodium derives from the Arabic word suda, meaning headache, because in antiquity, a compound of sodium with the Latin name of sodanum was used as a headache remedy.
4. It’s a very soft metal – at room temperature pure sodium can be cut with a butter knife.
5. Sodium is highly reactive. Its shiny metallic surface tarnishes within seconds if exposed to air. Put it in Water and it ignites, so the pure metal is stored in oil.
6. It is the sixth most abundant element on Earth, comprising about 2.6% of the earth's crust and one of the most common elements dissolved in the oceans. It is also found in the sun and other stars, Mercury's atmosphere, the exosphere of the Moon, and in the tails of some comets.
7. That said, the pure metal sodium doesn’t exist in nature – it’s always in compounds with other substances. Examples of sodium compounds include baking soda (NaHCO3), caustic soda (NaOH), borax (Na2B4O7·10H2O) and probably the most common of all, table salt (NaCl).
8. It is a vital element for nutrition as it helps maintain fluid balance throughout the body, and is critical for nerve function and to muscular contractions. The main source of it in the human diet is table Salt. Too much, however, can cause high blood pressure.
9. In flame tests, sodium burns Yellow. It is sodium which causes Fireworks to burn yellow or gold.
10. It melts at 97.794 °C/208.029 °F and boils at 882.940 °C/1621.292 °F.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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