1 minute read

Sodium Carbonate

Uses Of Sodium Carbonate

Sodium carbonate is utilized by many industries during the manufacture of different products. The most significant user is the glass industry which uses sodium carbonate to decompose silicates for glass making. The cosmetic industry uses it for manufacturing soap. The chemical industry uses it as a precursor to numerous sodium containing reagents. It is also important in photography, the textile industry, and water treatment. In addition to these industrial applications, sodium carbonate is used in medicine as an antacid.


Resources

Books

Budavari, Susan, ed. The Merck Index. Rahway: Merck & Co., Inc., 1989.

Faith, W.L., Donald Keyes, and Ronald Clark. Industrial Chemicals. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1966.

Lide, D.R., ed. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2001.


Perry Romanowski

KEY TERMS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Anhydrous

—A compound which does not contain any absorbed water.

Hydrate

—A compound which contains a certain amount of absorbed water.

Hygroscopic

—A compound which has a tendency to absorb water molecules.

LeBlanc process

—A method of sodium carbonate production using salt, limestone, and coal.

Soda ash

—A name for sodium carbonate which reflects its original source, the ashes of burnt seaweed.

Solvay process

—The current synthetic method of sodium carbonate production from ammonia, carbon dioxide, salt, and limestone.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Adam Smith Biography to Spectroscopic binarySodium Carbonate - Manufacture Of Sodium Carbonate, Properties Of Sodium Carbonate, Uses Of Sodium Carbonate