Is sodium chloride a mixture?

1 Answer
Aug 4, 2017

Sodium chloride solid is not a mixture. It is a pure substance... It cannot be physically separated into its components, Na+ and Cl. It would require energy input, and that is clearly not a physical means.


However, if for some reason, you meant NaCl(aq)... then sodium chloride IN WATER is a mixture, occurring through the physical dispersion of a liquid solvent amongst the ions, Na+ and Cl, that dissociate in solution, surrounding them to separate them from each other.

![https://media1.britannica.com/](useruploads.socratic.org)

As a further note, the ions were held together by electrostatic attractions in a lattice, so no chemical change actually occurred!

![https://cnx.org/](useruploads.socratic.org)

And in water, this gives:

![chem.wisc.edu)

(This qualifies as a mixture, since evaporation allows reformation of sodium chloride solid again, thus separating the components, NaCl and H2O, via physical means. It is known as a homogeneous mixture.)