sodium Chemical element, one of the alkali metals, chemical symbol Na, atomic number 11. A very soft, silvery white metal, the sixth most abun¬ dant element on Earth, it occurs mainly as haute, never free. Extremely reactive, it is used as a chemical reagent and raw material, in metallurgy, as a heat exchanger (in nuclear power generators and certain types of engines), and in sodium-vapour lamps (see electric discharge lamp). Sodium is essential for life but rarely deficient in diets; high intake is linked to hypertension. Sodium in compounds, many of great industrial importance (including bicarbonate of soda, caustic soda, sodium nitrate [Chile saltpe¬ tre], and sodium chloride), has valence 1 . Sodium carbonate, one of the four most important basic chemical commodities, is used in making glass, detergents, and cleansers. Sodium hypochlorite, familial' as household bleach, is also used to bleach paper pulp and textiles, to chlorinate water, and in some medicines. The sulfate is used in the kraft process and also used to make paperboard, glass, and detergents. The thiosulfate (hypo- sulfite, or “hypo”) is used to developed photographs.
sodium bicarbonate See bicarbonate of soda
sodium chloride or table salt Inorganic compound of sodium and chlorine, a salt in which ionic bonds hold the two components in the famil¬ ial' white crystals. Salt is essential to health as a source of sodium; blood and all other physiological fluids are dilute salt solutions. One of the most widely employed materials of the chemical industry, it is used in manu¬ facturing CHLORINE, CAUSTIC SODA, Sodium CARBONATE, BICARBONATE OF SODA, soap, and chlorine bleach, as well as in ceramic glazes, metallurgy, food preservation, curing of hides, road de-icing, water softening, photogra¬ phy, and many consumer products, including mineral waters, mouth¬ washes, and table salt itself. It is mined, extracted from seawater, and obtained from dry salt lakes called pans. See also haute.
Sodom and Gomorrah \ , sa-d9m...g9- , m6r-o\ Legendary cities of ancient Palestine. According to the Old Testament book of Genesis, the notorious cities were destroyed by “brimstone and fire” because of their wickedness. The site of the cities is unknown but may have beeen in an area now beneath the waters of the Dead Sea. Archaeological evidence shows that the area may once have been fertile and could have drawn the biblical Lot to graze his flock. The cities’ legendary wickedness has inspired many writers, including Jean Giraudoux and Nikos Kazantzakis.
sodomy Noncoital carnal copulation. Sodomy is a crime in some juris¬ dictions. Some sodomy laws, particularly in Middle Eastern countries and those jurisdictions observing Shariah law, provide penalties as severe as life imprisonment for homosexual intercourse, even if the relations are between legally consenting adults. Other sodomy laws proscribe a vari¬ ety of other forms of sexual contact and apply even to married couples. No such regulations are found in the law codes of Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, or Switzerland, among other countries.The Wolfenden committee in Britain and the American Law Institute recom¬ mended abolition of criminal penalties for sodomy, except in cases involv¬ ing violence, children, or public solicitation. This position was adopted in England in 1967 and has been adopted in many U.S. states as well.
sofer or sopher \so-'fer, 'so-forV In Judaism, a scholar-teacher of the 5th- 2nd centuries bc who transcribed, edited, and interpreted the Bible. The first sofer was Ezra, who, with his disciples, initiated a tradition of rabbinical scholarship that is still central in Judaism. This tradition of scholarship arose to meet the specific need of applying the idealistic aspirations of the
Torah and oral tradition to everyday life, thus in effect codifying Mosaic law. The soferim were important historically for having fixed the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. Later the term sofer came to refer to one who taught the Bible to children or who was qualified to write Torah scrolls.
Sofia Vso-fe-s, so-'fe-3,\ ancient Serdica City (pop., 2001: 1,096,389), capital of Bulgaria. Established as a Thracian settlement c. 8th century bc, it flourished under the Romans. Plundered by the Huns in the 5th century ad, it was rebuilt under the Byzantine Empire. In 809 it became a Bul¬ garian town but reverted to Byzantine rule from 1018 to 1185, when the second Bulgarian empire was established. The Turks held it from 1382 until it was liberated by the Russians in 1878. In 1879 it was made the Bulgarian capital. It is the country’s principal transportation and cultural centre and the site of many industries. Among its educational institutions is the University of Sofia (1888), Bulgaria’s oldest university. Its histori¬ cal monuments include the 6th-century church of St. Sofia.
soft coal See bituminous coal
soft drink Nonalcoholic beverage, usually carbonated, consisting of water (soda water), flavouring, and a sweet syrup or artificial sweetener. Attempts to reproduce the natural effervescence of certain spring waters for presumed health benefits began before 1700. Joseph Priestley’s experi¬ ments with “fixed air” (carbon dioxide) led in the late 1790s to the suc¬ cessful preparation of carbonated “mineral water” by Jacob Schweppe of Geneva; by the early 1800s it was being bottled and sold commercially. Today there are hundreds of varieties of flavoured soft drinks. Some of the world’s largest corporations (including Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo) founded their businesses on soft-drink manufacturing.
soft money In the U.S., paper money as contrasted with coins, or hard money; also, unregulated monetary donations to political parties or can¬ didates. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, advocates of soft money favoured governmental deficit spending to stimulate consumption and employment. Fiscal conservatives, who put their trust in hard money, maintained that government should not spend beyond its resources. In the late 20th century, strict regulations governed the source, amount, and use of donations to particular candidates (hard money), but few such laws applied to contributions for the general promotion of a political party’s message (soft money). In 2002 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that prohibited soft money contributions to the national political parties and strictly limited such contributions to state and local parties.
softball Game resembling baseball but played on a smaller diamond with a larger ball (12 in. [30.5 cm] in circumference), which is pitched under¬ hand. Since the first standard set of rules was published in the 1920s, the game has been popular as an amateur sport in the U.S., and since the 1960s it has grown considerably in popularity outside of North America. In U.S. high schools and colleges it is a popular women’s sport; a women’s soft- ball competition was added to the Olympic Games in 1996.
softshell turtle Any of more than 20 species (family Trionychidae) of swift-moving, carnivorous turtles found in North American, African, and Asian freshwaters with soft, muddy bottoms. They have a pan¬ cakelike, leathery shell; webbed feet; a long neck; and an elongated snout.
They often lie buried in mud or sand and occasionally emerge to bask in the sun. Aggressive when captured, they can deliver rapid, vicious bites.
The two North American species have a grayish or brown shell, 14-18 in. (35-45 cm) long. Two Old World species grow to 24 in. (60 cm) or more.
software Instructions that tell a computer what to do. Software is the entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the opera¬ tion of a computer system, including the operating system. The term dif¬ ferentiates these features from hardware, the physical components of a computer system. Two main types of software are system software, which controls a computer’s internal functioning, and application software, which directs the computer to execute commands that solve practical problems. A third category is network software, which coordinates com¬ munication between computers linked in a network. Software is written