Q 01/05

Sodium, element 11, comes just after which noble gas?

A) Helium

B) Neon

C) Argon

D) Krypton

Answer · why

B) Neon

Neon: sodium's eleventh electron sits alone in an outer shell and is lost with great ease, which is why the metal reacts so fiercely and never occurs ...

Q 02/05

Which chemical symbol stands for sodium?

A) Na

B) So

C) Nt

D) Sd

Answer · why

A) Na

Na, from the Latin name natrium, which goes back to a soda salt gathered from dry lake beds in the ancient world; German, Dutch and the Scandinavian l...

Q 03/05

Eating too much sodium over the years is most strongly linked to which condition?

A) High cholesterol

B) Type 2 diabetes

C) High blood pressure

D) Iron deficiency

Answer · why

C) High blood pressure

High blood pressure: sodium makes the body hold on to water, and the extra fluid pushes harder on vessel walls, raising the risk of heart disease and ...

Q 04/05

Who first isolated sodium metal in 1807?

A) Antoine Lavoisier

B) Humphry Davy

C) Michael Faraday

D) Jons Jakob Berzelius

Answer · why

B) Humphry Davy

Humphry Davy ran current from a powerful battery through a molten compound at London's Royal Institution in October 1807, just as he had done shortly ...

Q 05/05

Which Swedish chemist devised today's letter symbols for the elements, publishing sodium's in 1814?

A) Carl Wilhelm Scheele

B) Svante Arrhenius

C) Alfred Nobel

D) Jons Jakob Berzelius

Answer · why

D) Jons Jakob Berzelius

Jons Jakob Berzelius abbreviated each element's Latin name to one or two letters, which is why several symbols, sodium's among them, look nothing like...