Why is sodium not used to make cutlery?

Answer 1

Here are a few good reasons:

• First, sodium is highly reactive with water and dissolves in an exothermic reaction so that the hydrogen released will ignite. So cutlery made from sodium would be a one shot affair and would likely result in your meal exploding.
• Secondly, as a metal sodium is very malleable and would only be good for soft food.
• A high sodium diet is simply not healthy.

• Elemental Sodium Metal is extremely reactive with water, and will even react with the moisture in air. It would be dangerous to use it to cut anything that would contain the slightest bit of moisture... and would even be dangerous to handle with one's own hands.... especially sweaty hands. It could explode into flames if ever washed in water.
• Sodium Chloride actually is a wonderful substance. It is extremely hard, but also brittle. But, unfortunately it will dissolve readily in water. So, it would either break on usage, or would dissolve in contact with food containing significant amounts of water, or if someone ever washed it in water.

It is noted that Sodium Chloride disks are often used for IR Spectroscopy, and they can last a very long time if well cared for and never allowed to touch water.

Answer 2

Pure metallic sodium is too soft to cut virtually anything you would want to cut with a knife. If you tried to cut an apple, the blade would bend. Also, pure sodium combusts when it comes into contact with any kind of water. So when you wash the bent blade... boom

Answer 3

Pure sodium is very reactive...it would catch fire when you washed or used the knife on something with water in it, and it would crumble if you laid it on something sodium likes to react with...and since sodium likes to react with everything, you can see where that would get you. It's also not used to make knives because people like their knives to be made from steel.