Describe in your own words the structure of solid sodium chloride, and explain why its formula is NaCl.

Sodium chloride is formed when sodium atoms interact with chlorine atoms. When this occurs, sodium will donate an electron (which is a negatively-charged particle) to chlorine. This makes sodium slightly positive and chlorine slightly negative.

Opposite charges attract, right? So then, sodium ions will attract chloride ions and form an ionic bond. By the way, chloride is the term used to designate the anion form of chlorine. The result is a crystallized salt that has properties that are different from the two parent elements (sodium and chlorine). The chemical formula for sodium chloride is NaCl, which means that for every sodium atom present, there is exactly one chloride atom.

Sodium chloride has a molar mass of 58.44 grams per mole. It appears as a solid, clear crystal with little or no odor. As a salt, sodium chloride dissolves well in water and the ions in the crystals will separate when in solution. Have you ever added salt to a pot of boiling water, maybe to make pasta? You can see how instantly the little crystals dissolve, or break apart in the water.

Sodium chloride molecules can also stack on top of each other in a structure known as a lattice and the solid crystals of sodium chloride will contain this lattice-type arrangement.

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