Why is it difficult to get chlorine out of sodium chloride?

Answer 1

Chlorine is difficult to separate from sodium chloride due to the strong ionic bond between the sodium cation and chloride anion in the compound. This bond requires a significant amount of energy to break, typically through electrolysis, which involves passing an electric current through a molten or dissolved sodium chloride solution. This process is energy-intensive and requires specialized equipment, making it challenging and costly to extract chlorine from sodium chloride.

Answer 2

Chlorine is tightly bound to sodium in sodium chloride through ionic bonding, making it difficult to separate the two elements. Chemical processes, such as electrolysis, are typically needed to break this bond and extract chlorine from sodium chloride.

Answer 3

Sodium and chlorine separately contain much more chemical energy than sodium chloride does. In order to separate them you must put that energy into the salt.