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Sodium chloride

Sodium chloride, the chemical compound Nacl, is commonly called as common salt. The salinity found in ocean is because of the abundance of sodium chloride present in the ocean waters. This compound is a major ingredient in edible salt and it has preservative properties.

Sodium chloride is obtained mostly from seawater and other water sources such as brine wells, salt lakes. A portion of sodium chloride is also obtained by mining rock salt. United States of America is the leading producer of sodium chloride. Apart from cooking salt, sodium chloride has several other applications as well. Sodium chloride is used in manufacture of paper, soaps, detergents and other bathing products. To settle dyes in textiles, sodium chloride is used. To prepare industrial chlorine and sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride is used in large quantities.

As a result of electrolysis of sodium chloride in water, chlorine is obtained which in turn used in several products such as pesticides and PVC. This is called chloralkali process. The byproducts of this reaction are hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide. Liquid sodium chloride is used in the manufacture of sodium metal. Several chemical processes use sodium chloride to produce the most wanted chemical compounds.

Sodium chloride has disinfectant properties and it is used on wounds. The main use of commercial sodium chloride is to preserve the foods that can be used later. In the IR spectrum, optical compound made of sodium chloride was used. Though they are soft and cheap, there are certain limitations to the optical uses of sodium chloride.
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