Explain why sodium (metal) is soft and can be bend, whereas nacl is hard and brittle.

Sodium chloride has a crystalline face-centered  cubic structure whereas metallic sodium body-centered  cubic structure.

Explanation:

Hello, atomic arrangements provide the molecules different features and behaviors, since the sodium metal has a body-centered cubic structure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_crystal_system#/media/File:Cubic-body-centered.svg) the lack of inner atoms, allows the material to be soft and bendable. On the other hand the compacted sodium chloride's face-centered  cubic structure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_crystal_system#/media/File:Cubic-face-centered.svg), provides it a crystalline structure which is hard and brittle since the atoms are closer.

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atomic mass = 39

number of neutrons = 20

number of protons= 19

electronic configuration = 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s1

the number of electron in first shell = 2

number of electrons in n=3 shell = 8