Answer to Question #63713 in General Chemistry for Qwerty

Question

What is meant by molten NaCl ?

Answer 1

sodium chloride is a widely used compound, which is known to most people as the common or kitchen salt. As we all know, at normal conditions it is a solid which is well soluble in water, but being heated to approximately 801°C, it melts and becomes a liquid. That is what the molten NaCl is, the sodium chloride in the liquid state. When being heated to even higher temperatures, at approximately 1413°C it reaches the boiling point and becomes gaseous at temperatures higher than mentioned.
Melting of sodium chloride is commonly used in industry to produce metallic sodium and chlorine gas. When electric current is passed through the molten salt, chlorine anions Cl oxidize on the anode to form Cl2 gas, and sodium cations Na+ undergo reduction on the cathode to form metallic sodium.
So, the molten sodium chloride is just the salt in its liquid state.