The Principles of Chemistry, Volume I

by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev

Of all other industrial processes for manufacturing sodium carbonate, the ammonia process is the most worthy of mention.[16] In this the vapours of ammonia, and then an excess of carbonic anhydride, are directly introduced into a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in order to form the acid ammonium carbonate, NH₄HCO₃. Then, by means of the double saline decomposition of this salt, sodium chloride is decomposed, and in virtue of its slight solubility acid sodium carbonate, NaHCO₃, is precipitated and ammonium chloride, NH₄Cl, is obtained in solution (with a portion of the sodium chloride and acid sodium carbonate). The reaction proceeds in the solution owing to the sparing solubility of the NaHCO₃ according to the equation NaCl + NH₄HCO₃ = NH₄Cl + NaHCO₃. The ammonia is recovered from the solution by heating with lime or magnesia,[16 bis] and the precipitated acid sodium carbonate is converted into the normal salt by heating. It is thus obtained in a very pure state.[17]

Sodium carbonate, like sodium sulphate, loses all its water on being heated, and when anhydrous fuses at a bright-red heat (1098°). A small quantity of sodium carbonate placed in the loop of a platinum wire volatilises in the heat of a gas flame, and therefore in the furnaces of glass works part of the soda is always transformed into the condition of vapour. Sodium carbonate resembles sodium sulphate in its relation to water.[18] Here also the greatest solubility is at the temperature of 37°; both salts, on crystallising at the ordinary temperature, combine with ten molecules of water, and such crystals of soda, like crystals of Glauber's salt, fuse at 34°. Sodium carbonate also forms a supersaturated solution, and, according to the conditions, gives various combinations with water of crystallisation (mentioned on page [108]), &c.

At a red heat superheated steam liberates carbonic anhydride from sodium carbonate and forms caustic soda, Na₂CO₃ + H₂O = 2NaHO + CO₂. Here the carbonic anhydride is replaced by water; this depends on the feebly acid character of carbonic anhydride. By direct heating, sodium carbonate is only slightly decomposed into sodium oxide and carbonic anhydride; thus, when sodium carbonate is fused, about 1 per cent. of carbonic anhydride is disengaged.[19] The carbonates of many other metals—for instance, of calcium, copper, magnesium, iron, &c.—on being heated lose all their carbonic anhydride. This shows the considerable basic energy which sodium possesses. With the soluble salts of most metals, sodium carbonate gives precipitates either of insoluble carbonates of the metals, or else of the hydroxides (in this latter case carbonic anhydride is disengaged); for instance, with barium salts it precipitates an insoluble barium carbonate (BaCl₂ + Na₂CO₃ = 2NaCl + BaCO₃) and with the aluminium salts it precipitates aluminium hydroxide, carbonic anhydride being disengaged: 3Na₂CO₃ + Al₂(SO₄)₃ + 3H₂O = 3Na₂SO₄ + 2Al(OH)₃ + 3CO₂. Sodium carbonate, like all the salts of carbonic acid, evolves carbonic anhydride on treatment with all acids which are to any extent energetic. But if an acid diluted with water be gradually added to a solution of sodium carbonate, at first such an evolution does not take place, because the excess of the carbonic anhydride forms acid sodium carbonate (sodium bicarbonate), NaHCO₃.[20] The acid sodium carbonate is an unstable salt. Not only when heated alone, but even on being slightly heated in solution, and also at the ordinary temperature in damp air, it loses carbonic anhydride and forms the normal salt. And at the same time it is easy to obtain it in a pure crystalline form, if a strong solution of sodium carbonate be cooled and a stream of carbonic anhydride gas passed through it. The acid salt is less soluble in water than the normal,[21] and therefore a strong solution of the latter gives crystals of the acid salt if carbonic anhydride be passed through it. The acid salt may be yet more conveniently formed from effloresced crystals of sodium carbonate, which, on being considerably heated, very easily absorb carbonic anhydride.[22] The acid salt crystallises well, but not, however, in such large crystals as the normal salt; it has a brackish and not an alkaline taste like that of the normal salt; its reaction is feebly alkaline, nearly neutral. At 70° its solution begins to lose carbonic anhydride, and on boiling the evolution becomes very abundant. From the preceding remarks it is clear that in most reactions this salt, especially when heated, acts similarly to the normal salt, but has, naturally, some distinction from it. Thus, for example, if a solution of sodium carbonate be added to a normal magnesium salt, a turbidity (precipitate) is formed of magnesium carbonate. MgCO₃. No such precipitate is formed by the acid salt, because magnesium carbonate is soluble in the presence of an excess of carbonic anhydride.

Sodium carbonate is used for the preparation of caustic soda[23]—that is, the hydrate of sodium oxide, or the alkali which corresponds to sodium. For this purpose the action of lime on a solution of sodium carbonate is generally made use of. The process is as follows: a weak, generally 10 per cent., solution of sodium carbonate is taken,[24] and boiled in a cast-iron, wrought-iron, or silver boiler (sodium hydroxide does not act on these metals), and lime is added, little by little, during the boiling. This latter is soluble in water, although but very slightly. The clear solution becomes turbid on the addition of the lime because a precipitate is formed; this precipitate consists of calcium carbonate, almost insoluble in water, whilst caustic soda is formed and remains in solution. The decomposition is effected according to the equation: Na₂CO₃ + Ca(HO)₂ = CaCO₃ + 2NaHO. On cooling the solution the calcium carbonate easily settles as a precipitate, and the clear solution or alkali above it contains the easily soluble sodium hydroxide formed in the reaction.[25] After the necessary quantity of lime has been added, the solution is allowed to stand, and is then decanted off and evaporated in cast or wrought iron boilers, or in silver pans if a perfectly pure product is required.[26] The evaporation cannot be conducted in china, glass, or similar vessels, because caustic soda attacks these materials, although but slightly. The solution does not crystallise on evaporation, because the solubility of caustic soda when hot is very great, but crystals containing water of crystallisation may be obtained by cooling. If the evaporation of the alkali be conducted until the specific gravity reaches 1·38, and the liquid is then cooled to 0°, transparent crystals appear containing 2NaHO,7H₂O; they fuse at +6°.[27] If the evaporation be conducted so long as water is disengaged, which requires a considerable amount of heat, then, on cooling, the hydroxide, NaHO, solidifies in a semi-transparent crystalline mass,[28] which eagerly absorbs moisture and carbonic anhydride from the air.[29] Its specific gravity is 2·13;[30] it is easily soluble in water, with disengagement of a considerable quantity of heat.[31] A saturated solution at the ordinary temperature has a specific gravity of about 1·5, contains about 45 per cent. of sodium hydroxide, and boils at 130°; at 55° water dissolves an equal weight of it.[32] Caustic soda is not only soluble in water but in alcohol, and even in ether. Dilute solutions of sodium hydroxide produce a soapy feeling on the skin because the active base of soap consists of caustic soda.[33] Strong solutions have a corroding action.

The chemical reactions of sodium hydroxide serve as a type for those of a whole class of alkalis—that is, of soluble basic hydroxides, MOH. The solution of sodium hydroxide is a very caustic liquid—that is to say, it acts in a destructive way on most substances, for instance on most organic tissues—hence caustic soda, like all soluble alkalis, is a poisonous substance; acids, for example hydrochloric, serve as antidotes. The action of caustic soda on bones, fat, starch, and similar vegetable and animal substances explains its action on organisms. Thus bones, when plunged into a weak solution of caustic soda, fall to powder,[34] and evolve a smell of ammonia, owing to the caustic soda changing the gelatinous organic substance of the bones (which contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulphur, like albumin), dissolving it and in part destroying it, whence ammonia is disengaged. Fats, tallow, and oils become saponified by a solution of caustic soda—that is to say, they form with it soaps soluble in water, or sodium salts of the organic acids contained in the fats.[35] The most characteristic reactions of sodium hydroxide are determined by the fact that it saturates all acids, forming salts with them, which are almost all soluble in water, and in this respect caustic soda is as characteristic amongst the bases as nitric acid is among the acids. It is impossible to detect sodium by means of the formation of precipitates of insoluble sodium salts, as may be done with other metals, many of whose salts are but slightly soluble. The powerful alkaline properties of caustic soda determine its capacity for combining with even the feeblest acids, its property of disengaging ammonia from ammonium salts, its faculty of forming precipitates from solutions of salts whose bases are insoluble in water, &c. If a solution of the salt of almost any metal be mixed with caustic soda, then a soluble sodium salt will be formed, and an insoluble hydroxide of the metal will be separated—for instance, copper nitrate yields copper hydroxide, Cu(NO₃)₂ + 2NaHO = Cu(HO)₂ + 2NaNO₃. Even many basic oxides precipitated by caustic soda are capable of combining with it and forming soluble compounds, and therefore caustic soda in the presence of salts of such metals first forms a precipitate of hydroxide, and then, employed in excess, dissolves this precipitate. This phenomenon occurs, for example, when caustic soda is added to the salts of aluminium. This shows the property of such an alkali as caustic soda of combining not only with acids, but also with feeble basic oxides. For this reason caustic soda acts on most elements which are capable of forming acids or oxides similar to them; thus the metal aluminium gives hydrogen with caustic soda in consequence of the formation of alumina, which combines with the caustic soda—that is, in this case, the caustic alkali acts on the metal just as sulphuric acid does on Fe or Zn. If caustic soda acts in this manner on a metalloid capable of combining with the hydrogen evolved (aluminium does not give a compound with hydrogen), then it forms such a hydrogen compound. Thus, for instance, phosphorus acts in this way on caustic soda, yielding hydrogen phosphide. When the hydrogen compound disengaged is capable of combining with the alkali, then, naturally, a salt of the corresponding acid is formed. For example, chlorine and sulphur act in this way on caustic soda. Chlorine, with the hydrogen of the caustic soda, forms hydrochloric acid, and the latter forms common salt with the sodium hydroxide, whilst the other atom in the molecule of chlorine, Cl₂, takes the place of the hydrogen, and forms the hypochlorite, NaClO. In the same way, by the action of sodium hydroxide on sulphur, hydrogen sulphide is formed, which acts on the soda forming sodium sulphide, in addition to which sodium thiosulphate is formed (see Chapter XX.) By virtue of such reactions, sodium hydroxide acts on many metals and non-metals. Such action is often accelerated by the presence of the oxygen of the air, as by this means the formation of acids and oxides rich in oxygen is facilitated. Thus many metals and their lower oxides, in the presence of an alkali, absorb oxygen and form acids. Even manganese peroxide, when mixed with caustic soda, is capable of absorbing the oxygen of the air, and forming sodium manganate. Organic acids when heated with caustic soda give up to it the elements of carbonic anhydride, forming sodium carbonate, and separating that hydrocarbon group which exists, in combination with carbonic anhydride, in the organic acid.

Thus sodium hydroxide, like the soluble alkalis in general, ranks amongst the most active substances in the chemical sense of the term, and but few substances are capable of resisting it. Even siliceous rocks, as we shall see further on, are transformed by it, forming when fused with it vitreous slags. Sodium hydroxide (like ammonium and potassium hydroxides), as a typical example of the basic hydrates, in distinction from many other basic oxides, easily forms acid salts with acids (for instance, NaHSO₄, NaHCO₃), and does not form any basic salts at all; whilst many less energetic bases, such as the oxides of copper and lead, easily form basic salts, but acid salts only with difficulty. This capability of forming acid salts, particularly with polybasic acids, may be explained by the energetic basic properties of sodium hydroxide, contrasted with the small development of these properties in the bases which easily form basic salts. An energetic base is capable of retaining a considerable quantity of acid, which a slightly energetic base would not have the power of doing. Also, as will be shown in the subsequent chapters, sodium belongs to the univalent metals, being exchangeable for hydrogen atom for atom—that is, amongst metals sodium may, like chlorine amongst the non-metals, serve as the representative of the univalent properties. Most of the elements which are not capable of forming acid salts are bivalent. Whence it may be understood that in a bibasic acid—for instance, carbonic, H₂CO₃, or sulphuric, H₂SO₄—the hydrogen may be exchanged, atom for atom, for sodium, and yield an acid salt by means of the first substitution, and a normal salt by means of the second—for instance, NaHSO₄, and Na₂SO₄, whilst such bivalent metals as calcium and barium do not form acid salts because one of their atoms at once takes the place of both hydrogen atoms, forming, for example, CaCO₃ and CaSO₄.[35 bis]

We have seen the transformation of common salt into sodium sulphate, of this latter into sodium carbonate, and of sodium carbonate into caustic soda. Lavoisier still regarded sodium hydroxide as an element, because he was unacquainted with its decomposition with the formation of metallic sodium, which separates the hydrogen from water, reforming caustic soda.

The preparation of metallic sodium was one of the greatest discoveries in chemistry, not only because through it the conception of elements became broader and more correct, but especially because in sodium, chemical properties were observed which were but feebly shown in the other metals more familiarly known. This discovery was made in 1807 by the English chemist Davy by means of the galvanic current. By connecting with the positive pole (of copper or carbon) a piece of caustic soda (moistened in order to obtain electrical conductivity), and boring a hole in it filled with mercury connected with the negative pole of a strong Volta's pile, Davy observed that on passing the current a peculiar metal dissolved in the mercury, less volatile than mercury, and capable of decomposing water, again forming caustic soda. In this way (by analysis and synthesis) Davy demonstrated the compound nature of alkalis. On being decomposed by the galvanic current, caustic soda disengages hydrogen and sodium at the negative pole and oxygen at the positive pole. Davy showed that the metal formed volatilises at a red heat, and this is its most important physical property in relation to its extraction, all later methods being founded on it. Besides this Davy observed that sodium easily oxidises, its vapour taking fire in air, and the latter circumstance was for a long time an obstacle to the easy preparation of this metal. The properties of sodium were subsequently more thoroughly investigated by Gay-Lussac and Thénard, who observed that metallic iron at a high temperature was capable of reducing caustic soda to sodium.[36] Brunner latterly discovered that not only iron, but also charcoal, has this property, although hydrogen has not.[37] But still the methods of extracting sodium were very troublesome, and consequently it was a great rarity. The principal obstacle to its production was that an endeavour was made to condense the easily-oxidising vapours of sodium in vacuo in complicated apparatus. For this reason, when Donny and Maresca, having thoroughly studied the matter, constructed a specially simple condenser, the production of sodium was much facilitated. Furthermore, in practice the most important epoch in the history of the production of sodium is comprised in the investigation of Sainte-Claire Deville, who avoided the complex methods in vogue up to that time, and furnished those simple means by which the production of sodium is now rendered feasible in chemical works.

For the production of sodium according to Deville's method, a mixture of anhydrous sodium carbonate (7 parts), charcoal (two parts), and lime or chalk (7 parts) is heated. This latter ingredient is only added in order that the sodium carbonate, on fusing, shall not separate from the charcoal.[38] The chalk on being heated loses carbonic anhydride, leaving infusible lime, which is permeated by the sodium carbonate and forms a thick mass, in which the charcoal is intimately mixed with the sodium carbonate. When the charcoal is heated with the sodium carbonate, at a white heat, carbonic oxide and vapours of sodium are disengaged, according to the equation: