The chemical name of ordinary table salt is sodium chloride.
Sodium chloride is composed of two elements: sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). Sodium is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal, while chlorine is a yellow-green gas that is poisonous in its diatomic form. When these two elements combine in a chemical reaction, they form sodium chloride, which is a stable, crystalline compound commonly found in nature and used in cooking and food preservation.
Table salt is typically harvested from salt mines or obtained by evaporating seawater. It plays a crucial role not only in enhancing the flavor of food but also in various biological processes in the human body, such as maintaining fluid balance and nerve function.