what does the statement "the properties of salt are different from the properties of the elements that go into making them.
Exactly what is says.
What is the density, boiling point, etc of Salt vs the same things for Sodium,or Chlorine?
Look at Na combining with Cl2 gas to form NaCl, salt. We eat salt, a solid, but Cl2 gas is poison and you wouldn't dare eat sodium metal, a soft and very reactive metal not like salt at all.
The statement "the properties of salt are different from the properties of the elements that go into making them" refers to the fact that when sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) combine to form sodium chloride (NaCl), the resulting compound salt has different properties compared to the pure elements.
To understand why this happens, we need to examine the concept of chemical bonding. In the case of salt, sodium and chlorine atoms undergo an ionic bond. In this type of bond, electrons are transferred from a metal atom (sodium) to a non-metal atom (chlorine), resulting in the formation of positive and negative ions.
Sodium donates one electron to chlorine, forming a positively charged sodium ion (Na+) and a negatively charged chloride ion (Cl-). These ions are attracted to each other due to their opposite charges, leading to the creation of a stable ionic compound, sodium chloride.
The difference in properties between the elements (sodium and chlorine) and the resulting compound (salt) can be observed in various ways:
1. Physical appearance: Sodium is a soft, silvery-white metal, while chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas. However, sodium chloride is a white, crystalline solid.
2. Solubility: Sodium metal and chlorine gas are not soluble in water, whereas sodium chloride readily dissolves in water to form a salty solution.
3. Melting and boiling points: Sodium has a relatively low melting point of 97.8°C (208°F) and boiling point of 883°C (1621°F), while chlorine has a melting point of -101.5°C (-150.7°F) and boiling point of -34.04°C (-29.27°F). However, sodium chloride has a much higher melting point of 801°C (1474°F) and boiling point of 1465°C (2669°F).
4. Conductivity: Sodium is a good conductor of electricity, but chlorine is not. However, when sodium chloride dissolves in water or molten state, it forms conducting solutions due to the presence of free-moving ions.
These examples demonstrate how the properties of the compound, such as solubility, melting point, boiling point, and conductivity, differ from the properties of the individual elements involved in its formation.