It functions as table salt for food seasoningpreservation essential electrolyte nutrient water softening agent road de-icer chlorine production via electrolysis and laboratory reagent for saline solutions and precipitation reactions.

Its primary purpose is maintaining osmotic pressure and fluidelectrolyte balance in physiology providing ionic conductivity in aqueous solutions and serving as a reagent for crystal growth or halide precipitation.

Sodium chloride (NaCl) commonly known as table salt is a colorless cubic crystalline solid ionic compound composed of Na cations and Cl- anions in a face-centered cubic (rock salt) lattice structure with molecular weight 58.44 gmol density 1.199gmLat 20C melting point 801C boiling point 1465C1 atm (lit.) and water solubility 360 gL at 20C producing neutral pH 7 solutions.