Sodium Bicarbonate, commonly called baking soda, is a white
odourless, crystalline solid, completely soluble in water but
slightly soluble in ethanol. It is the mildest of all sodium
alkalis. It is prepared from purified sodium carbonate or sodium
hydroxide solution with passing carbon dioxide which is bubbled
into the solution of pure carbonate, and the bicarbonate
precipitates out to be dried as the bicarbonate is less soluble
than the carbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is also made as an
intermediate product in the Solvay process which is to make sodium
carbonate from calcium carbonate by treating sodium chloride with
ammonia and carbon dioxide.
