sodium

Definition

The chemical element (symbol Na) with an atomic number of 11 and atomic weight of 22.990. It is a soft, waxy, silvery, reactive alkali metal that is never found unbound in nature.

Etymology

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from soda + -ium.

Example Sentences

• "From Keighley onwards we had obviously returned to civilisation, for the surrounding country was now studded with the sodium street lights of suburbia and a thickening industrial haze was blotting out the moon."

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