Some astronomical observatories use laser guide stars to excite this element in the atmosphere because that creates a wavefront reference for adaptive optics.
Some astronomical observatories use laser guide stars to excite this element in the atmosphere because that creates a wavefront reference for adaptive optics. An experimental type of nuclear reactor cooled by this element, sometimes in an alloy with potassium, includes the extremely accident-plagued Monju Nuclear Power Plant. Pretty much all of the solid form of this element used commercially is prepared using a mixture of it and calcium chloride in a Downs cell. The solvent for aluminum oxide in the HallÂ–Héroult (ay-ROO) process is a mixture of aluminum and this element bound to fluoride; that mixture is cryolite. A 588.99 and 589.59 nanometer doublet in an astronomical object's spectrum corresponds to this element's D lines. For 10 points, name this element that forms a molten salt above 801 degrees Celsius when bound to chlorine.
Some astronomical observatories use laser guide stars to excite this element in the atmosphere because that creates a wavefront reference for adaptive optics.
sodium [or Na] 