Sodium chloride Sodium chloride Sodium chloride , also known as salt (though sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g/mol respectively, 100 g of NaCl contains 39.34 g Na and 60.66 g Cl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of seawater and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms. In its edible form of table salt, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. Large quantities of sodium chloride are
Chemical compound covalent bonds, salts held together by ionic bonds, intermetallic compounds held together by metallic bonds, or the subset of chemical complexes that are held together by coordinate covalent bonds. Pure chemical elements are generally not considered chemical compounds, failing the two or more atom requirement, though they often consist of molecules composed of multiple atoms (such as in the diatomic molecule H, or the polyatomic molecule S, etc.). Many chemical compounds have a unique numerical identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS): its CAS number. There is varying and sometimes inconsistent nomenclature differentiating substances, which include truly non-stoichiometric examples,