Sodium carbonate is known as a strong base and weak acid salt, it is alkaline, but there are conditions for alkalinity, it must be in an aqueous solution to appear alkaline, if it is a solid state, it does not show pH.
Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), molecular weight 105.99. The purity of the chemical is more than 99.5% (mass fraction), also known as soda ash, but the classification belongs to the salt, not alkali. It is also known as soda or alkali ash in international trade. It is an important inorganic chemical raw material, mainly used in the production of flat glass, glass products and ceramic glaze. It is also widely used in life washing, acid neutralization and food processing.
Sodium carbonate is a white powder easily soluble in water, the solution is alkaline (can make phenolphthalein solution turn light red). It can decompose at high temperature and does not decompose when heated. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, China's production capacity of soda ash developed at a high speed, and with the release of new production capacity and the intensification of competition, the cyclical fluctuations in market prices increased, and the economic benefits of the soda ash industry declined significantly.
The sudden financial crisis in the second half of 2008 exacerbated the unfavorable situation of the soda ash industry, resulting in significant fluctuations in the price of soda ash. Affected by the financial crisis, the downstream demand was low in 2009, and the price of soda ash also hit the bottom, resulting in industry-wide losses.
In 2010, the domestic economy stabilized and rebounded, the market demand increased, the soda ash production followed by a rapid rebound, the investment enthusiasm of domestic enterprises and gradually began to rise, is expected during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan will have a large number of new production capacity will be released, the soda ash industry is likely to enter the downward cycle again.
Sodium carbonate physical data:
1, properties: anhydrous sodium carbonate pure product is white powder or fine particles.
2, Melting point: 851 ℃; Boiling point: 1600 ℃; Relative Density: 2.532; Refractive index: 1.535.
3, Solubility: 22g/100g water (20 ℃).
4, solubility easily soluble in water, aqueous solution is weakly alkaline. Its solubility is maximum at 35.4℃, 49.7g of sodium carbonate can be dissolved per 100g of water (7.0g at 0℃, 45.5g at 100℃). Slightly soluble in anhydrous ethanol, insoluble in propanol.