Sodium polonide is a

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

with the formula Na₂ Po. This salt is a

polonide A polonide is a chemical compound of the radioactive element polonium with any element less electronegative than polonium. Polonides are usually prepared by a direct reaction between the elements at temperatures of around 300–400 °C... They ...

, a set of very chemically stable compounds of polonium.. Due to the difference in

electronegativity Electronegativity, symbolized as , is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the ...

(ΔEN) between sodium and polonium (≈ 1.1 under the Pauling system) and the slight non-metallic character of polonium, it is intermediate between

intermetallic An intermetallic (also called an intermetallic compound, intermetallic alloy, ordered intermetallic alloy, and a long-range-ordered alloy) is a type of metallic alloy that forms an ordered solid-state compound between two or more metallic eleme ...

phases and

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

ic compounds.

Production

This salt may be produced from the reaction between aqueous

hydrogen polonide Polonium hydride (also known as polonium dihydride, hydrogen polonide, or polane) is a chemical compound with the formula Po H2. It is a liquid at room temperature, the second hydrogen chalcogenide with this property after water. It is very unsta ...

and

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...

metal: :H₂Po + 2 Na → Na₂Po + H₂ This method of synthesis is hampered by the chemical instability of hydrogen polonide. Sodium polonide may also be produced by heating sodium and polonium together at 300–400 °C.

Crystal structure

Like lithium polonide and potassium polonide, sodium polonide has the

antifluorite In solid state chemistry, the fluorite structure refers to a common motif for compounds with the formula MX2. The X ions occupy the eight tetrahedral interstitial sites whereas M ions occupy the regular sites of a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure ...

structure.

References

{{inorganic-chemistry-stub Sodium compounds Polonides Fluorite crystal structure