Question

Sodium reacts with oxygen in room temperature to form
A. Acidic oxide
B. Basic oxide
C. Neutral oxide
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Sodium metal reacts with the oxygen of the air at room temperature radially and undergoes oxide formation. Hence, sodium is stored under kerosene to prevent its reaction with oxygen, moisture, and carbon dioxide.

Complete Step by step solution:

Let's see the complete reaction when sodium metal reacts with oxygen of the air at room temperature.
\[4Na+{{O}_{2}}\to 2N{{a}_{2}}O\]
Sodium is a very reactive metal, it tends to react with oxygen to form sodium oxide but this is an unstable compound and soon reacts with hydrogen to form sodium hydroxide.
\[N{{a}_{2}}O\] is a sodium oxide formed by the reaction between sodium metal and oxygen of the air at room temperature.
\[N{{a}_{2}}O\] contains the oxide ion, ${{O}^{2-}}$, which is a very strong base with a high tendency to combine with hydrogen ions.
Sodium oxide is a simple strongly basic oxide.

According to the above points, we say that option (B) basic oxide is the correct answer.

Additional Information:

There are four types of oxides available:

Acidic oxides
An acidic oxide reacts with water and produces acid. Usually, it is the oxide of non-metals.

Basic oxides
A basic oxide reacts with water to give a base

Amphoteric oxides
An amphoteric oxide is that metallic oxide displaying a dual behavior. It shows the characteristics of both an acid as well as a base. It reacts with both alkalis as well as acids

Neutral oxides
A neutral oxide is one that does not exhibit any tendency to form salts either with acids
Neutral oxide is one that does not exhibit any tendency to form salts either with acids or bases.

Note: Acidic oxides are known as oxides of nonmetals and basic oxides are known as oxides of metals with examples \[S{{O}_{2}}, MgO\] respectively.