Sodium carbonate alkali. Safety of baking soda for humans

Sodium carbonate GOST 83-79

Na 2 CO 3

Sodium carbonate Na 2 CO 3 is a chemical compound, sodium salt of carbonic acid.

Crystalline hydrates of sodium carbonate exist in different forms: colorless monoclinic Na 2 CO 3 10H 2 O, at 32.017 °C it turns into colorless orthorhombic Na 2 CO 3 7H 2 O, the latter, when heated to 35.27 °C, colorless turns into orthorhombic Na 2 CO 3 ·H 2 O. In the range of 100-120 °C, the monohydrate loses water. Melts at 852 °C, decomposes with further heating (above 1000 °C).

Anhydrous sodium carbonate is a colorless powder.

In an aqueous solution, sodium carbonate is hydrolyzed, which ensures an alkaline reaction of the environment. Hydrolysis equation (in ionic form):

The first dissociation constant of carbonic acid is 4.5·10−7. All acids stronger than carbon displace it in a reaction with sodium carbonate. Since carbonic acid is extremely unstable, it immediately decomposes into water and carbon dioxide:

Application

In the food industry, sodium carbonates are registered as a food additive E500, - an acidity regulator, a leavening agent that prevents clumping and caking. Sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na 2 CO 3) has the code 500i, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, NaHCO 3) - 500ii, a mixture of both - 500iii. Sodium carbonate is used in glass production; soap making and production of washing and cleaning powders; enamels to obtain ultramarine. It is also used to soften the water of steam boilers and generally reduce water hardness, to degrease metals and desulfate blast iron. Sodium carbonate is the starting product for the production of NaOH, Na 2 B 4 O 7, Na 2 HPO 4. Can be used in cigarette filters.

One of the newest technologies for enhancing oil recovery is ASP flooding, which uses soda in combination with a surfactant to reduce the interfacial tension between water and oil.

Also used in the preparation of photographic developers as an accelerating agent.

sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate formula
Sodium carbonate Na2CO3 is a chemical compound, sodium salt of carbonic acid.

• 1 Trivial names
• 2 Oxides and hydroxides
• 3 Being in nature
• 4 Receipt
  • 4.1 Leblanc method
  • 4.2 Industrial ammonia method (Solvay method)
  • 4.3 Howe method
    • 4.3.1 Comparison of methods
• 5 Properties
• 6 Application
• 7 Notes

Trivial names

Soda is the general name for technical sodium salts of carbonic acid.

• Na2CO3 (sodium carbonate) - soda ash, laundry soda
• Na2CO3·10H2O (sodium carbonate decahydrate, contains 62.5% water of crystallization) - washing soda; sometimes available as Na2CO3 H2O or Na2CO3 7H2O
• NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate) - baking soda, sodium bicarbonate (obsolete), sodium bicarbonate

The name “soda” comes from the soda plant (lat. Salsola soda), from the ash of which it was extracted. Soda ash was called because to obtain it from crystalline hydrate it was necessary to calcinate it (that is, heat it to a high temperature).

Caustic soda is called sodium hydroxide (NaOH).

Oxides and hydroxides

Being in nature

In nature, soda is found in the ash of some seaweeds, as well as in the form of the following minerals:

• nahcolite NaHCO3
• trona Na2CO3 NaHCO3 2H2O
• sodium (soda) Na2CO3 10H2O
• thermosodium Na2CO3·H2O.

Modern soda lakes are known in Transbaikalia and Western Siberia

Receipt

Until the beginning of the 19th century, sodium carbonate was obtained mainly from the ashes of certain seaweeds and coastal plants.

Leblanc method

In 1791, French chemist Nicolas Leblanc received a patent for “Method of converting Glauber’s salt into soda.” In this method, a mixture of sodium sulfate (“Glauber’s salt”), chalk or limestone (calcium carbonate) and charcoal is baked at a temperature of about 1000 °C. Coal reduces sodium sulfate to sulfide:

Na2SO4 + 2C → Na2S + 2CO2.

Sodium sulfide reacts with calcium carbonate:

Na2S + CaCO3 → Na2CO3 + CaS.

The resulting melt is treated with water, during which the sodium carbonate goes into solution, the calcium sulfide is filtered off, then the sodium carbonate solution is evaporated. Raw soda is purified by recrystallization. The Leblanc process produces soda in the form of crystalline hydrate (see above), so the resulting soda is dehydrated by calcination.

Sodium sulfate was prepared by treating rock salt (sodium chloride) with sulfuric acid:

2NaCl + H2SO4 → Na2SO4 + 2HCl.

The hydrogen chloride released during the reaction was captured with water to produce hydrochloric acid.

The first soda plant of this type in Russia was founded by industrialist M. Prang and appeared in Barnaul in 1864.

After the advent of the more economical (no by-product calcium sulfide remains in large quantities) and technologically advanced Solvay method, factories operating using the Leblanc method began to close. By 1900, 90% of factories produced soda using the Solvay method, and the last factories using the Leblanc method closed in the early 1920s.

Industrial ammonia method (Solvay method)

In 1861, Belgian chemical engineer Ernest Solvay patented a method for producing soda that is still used today.

Equimolar amounts of gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide are passed into a saturated solution of sodium chloride, that is, ammonium bicarbonate NH4HCO3 is introduced:

NH3 + CO2 + H2O + NaCl → NaHCO3 + NH4Cl.

The precipitated residue of poorly soluble (9.6 g per 100 g of water at 20 °C) sodium bicarbonate is filtered and calcined (dehydrated) by heating to 140-160 °C, during which it turns into sodium carbonate:

2NaHCO3 →(t) Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O.

The resulting CO2 is returned to the production cycle. Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is treated with calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2:

2NH4Cl + Ca(OH)2 → CaCl2 + 2NH3 + 2H2O,

and the resulting NH3 is also returned to the production cycle.

Thus, the only production waste is calcium chloride, which does not have wide industrial applications, except for use as an anti-icing reagent for sprinkling streets.

The first soda plant of this type in the world was opened in 1863 in Belgium; The first plant of this type in Russia was founded in the area of ​​the Ural city of Berezniki by the company Lyubimov, Solve and Co. in 1883. Its productivity was 20 thousand tons of soda per year. In 2010, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia refused to purchase this plant from Solvay, allowing the purchase to the Bashkir Chemistry group (which also owns the Soda plant).

Until now, this method remains the main way to obtain soda in all countries.

Howe method

Developed by Chinese chemist Hou Debang in the 1930s. It differs from the Solvay process in that it does not use calcium hydroxide.

According to Howe's method, carbon dioxide and ammonia are added to a sodium chloride solution at a temperature of 40 degrees. Less soluble sodium bicarbonate precipitates during the reaction (as in the Solvay method). Then the solution is cooled to 10 degrees. In this case, ammonium chloride precipitates, and the solution is reused to produce the next portions of soda.

Comparison of methods

According to Howe's method, NH4Cl is formed as a by-product instead of CaCl2 according to Solvay's method.

The Solvay process was developed before the advent of the Haber process; at that time, ammonia was in short supply, so it was necessary to regenerate it from NH4Cl. Howe's method appeared later; the need for ammonia regeneration was no longer so urgent; accordingly, ammonia could not be extracted, but used as a nitrogen fertilizer in the form of the NH4Cl compound.

However, NH4Cl contains chlorine, the excess of which is harmful to many plants, so the use of NH4Cl as a fertilizer is limited. In turn, rice tolerates excess chlorine well, and in China, where NH4Cl is used for rice cultivation, the Hou method, which produces NH4Cl as a by-product, is more widely represented than in other regions.

Currently, in a number of countries, almost all artificially produced sodium carbonate is produced using the Solvay method (including the Howe method as a modification), namely in Europe 94% of artificially produced soda, worldwide - 84% (2000).

Properties

Crystalline hydrates of sodium carbonate exist in different forms: colorless monoclinic Na2CO3 10H2O, at 32.017 °C turns into colorless orthorhombic Na2CO3 7H2O, the latter, when heated to 35.27 °C, colorless turns into orthorhombic Na2CO3 H2O.

Anhydrous sodium carbonate is a colorless crystalline powder.

In an aqueous solution, sodium carbonate is hydrolyzed, which ensures an alkaline reaction of the environment. Hydrolysis equation (in ionic form):

CO32− + H2O ↔ HCO3− + OH−

The first dissociation constant of carbonic acid is 4.5·10−7. All acids stronger than carbon displace it in a reaction with sodium carbonate. Since carbonic acid is extremely unstable, it immediately decomposes into water and carbon dioxide:

Na2CO3 + H2SO4 → Na2SO4 + CO2 + H2O

Application

Sodium carbonate is used in glass production; soap making and production of washing and cleaning powders; enamels to produce ultramarine. It is also used to soften the water of steam boilers and generally reduce water hardness, to degrease metals and desulfate blast iron. Sodium carbonate is the starting product for the production of NaOH, Na2B4O7, Na2HPO4. Can be used in cigarette filters.

In the food industry, sodium carbonates are registered as a food additive E500, - an acidity regulator, a leavening agent that prevents clumping and caking. Sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na2CO3) is coded 500i, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, NaHCO3) is coded 500ii, and a mixture of both is coded 500iii.

Also used for preparing photographic materials developer.

Notes

1. WebCite query result
2. Patent for invention

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Sodium Carbonate Information About

Na 2 CO 3 in an anhydrous state is a white powder with a specific gravity of 2.4-2.54, which melts at about 850 °C. Soda dissolves easily in water, and due to the formation of hydrates, dissolution is accompanied by heating. The most important of the hydrates obtained in the solid state, crystalline soda, Na 2 CO 3 ∙ 10H 2 O, crystallizes from aqueous solutions at temperatures below 32 ° C in the form of large colorless monoclinic crystals of specific gravity 1.45, which melt in their own water of crystallization at 32°C. Aqueous solutions of soda exhibit a pronounced alkaline reaction, since due to the weakness of carbonic acid, the salt undergoes far-reaching hydrolytic cleavage.

In addition to decahydrate, there is rhombic heptahydrate, which is stable when in contact with a solution in the temperature range of 32.017-35.3 ° C, as well as rhombic monohydrate, which, according to Waldeck, when under solution; at 112.5 °C and a pressure of 1.27 atm., it turns into an anhydrous salt. Heptahydrate also exists in another modification, which, when in contact with an aqueous solution, is not stable at any temperature.

Soda is sometimes found naturally in the waters of lakes, for example in Lake Owens in the state. California, the total soda content of which reaches 100 million tons; soda, although quite dirty, is extracted from this lake as a result of the evaporation of water in the sun. Soda lakes, along with neutral carbonate, contain primarily bicarbonate. In some places, a double compound of sodium bicarbonate with normal carbonate Na 2 CO 3 ∙NaHCO 3, called trona, is precipitated. The waters of alkaline springs, for example in Carlsbad, contain Na 2 CO 3 and NaHCO 3 .

Contained in the ash of some seaweeds. 100 years ago, soda was extracted mainly from plant ash.

Now soda is produced almost exclusively by the Solve method (ammonia method for producing soda). The older Leblanc method is now, at least in Germany, not used at all. The production of soda by carbonation of sodium alkali obtained by electrolysis, as opposed to the production of potash carried out in this way, is of limited importance. As indicated, caustic soda, on the contrary, is often obtained by causticizing soda. In the USA, soda is partly obtained from cryolite.

According to Leblanc's method, rock salt was first treated with concentrated sulfuric acid; producing sodium sulfate (usually called sulfate in short) and hydrochloric acid as the most important by-product

2NaCl + H 2 SO 4 = Na 2 SO 4 + 2HC1.

The sulfate was then mixed with calcium carbonate (limestone) and coal to make soda, and smelted in a fiery furnace. The following reactions occurred:

Na 2 SO 4 + 2C = Na 2 S + 2CO 2

Na 2 S + CaCO 3 = Na 2 CO 3 + CaS

Soda was removed from the cooled alloy by leaching with water, while insoluble CaS remained in as low-value garbage. The method was developed by Leblanc in 1791 for a prize from the Académie Française. Shortly thereafter, first in England, then in Germany and France, the soda industry developed, which until 1870 was based exclusively on the Leblanc process. Only recently has the Leblanc process been superseded by the cost-effective Solvay process.

The Solva method for producing soda, or the ammonia method, was based on the formation of relatively poorly soluble sodium bicarbonate NaHCO 3 by the interaction of sodium chloride with ammonium bicarbonate in an aqueous solution:

NaCl + NH 4 HCO 3 = NaHCO 3 + NH 4 C1.

In technology, ammonia is first passed into an almost saturated solution of table salt, then carbon dioxide. The resulting NaHCO 3 is filtered and transferred by heating (calcination) to Na 2 CO 3 (soda ash)

2NaHCO 3 = Na 2 CO 3 + CO 2 + H 2 O.

In this case, half of the initially taken carbon dioxide is released, and it is sent back to the process. To get NH 3 back, ammonia and water vapor are passed into the mother solution from which the bicarbonate was precipitated. Due to this, the ammonium bicarbonate contained there first transforms into neutral carbonate and the latter, at temperatures above 58 ° C, decomposes into carbon dioxide, water and ammonia.

NH 4 HCO 3 + NH 3 = (NH 4) 2 HCO 3

2NH 4 C1 + Ca(OH) 2 = CaCl 2 + 2H 2 O + 2NH 3.

so, along with unreacted sodium chloride, the only waste product is calcium chloride, which is usually discharged into rivers.

Soda is one of the most important products of the chemical industry. It is used in large quantities in glass and soap production. It is also the starting material for many other important sodium compounds, such as sodium hydroxide. borax, sodium phosphate, soluble glass, etc. Large amounts of soda are also used in laundries, paper mills, dyeing industries, and also to soften the water of steam boilers. In the household, soda is used as a cleaning agent.

Chemistry is an interesting science that explains most of the processes and phenomena occurring around us. Moreover, these phenomena are not limited to the simple dissolution of sugar in a cup of tea or the hydrolysis of substances, which is often the basis of an industrial process, but also such complex ones as the creation of an organic substance without the participation of a living organism. In other words, chemistry is the science of life in terms of most of the phenomena occurring around us. Chemistry can tell you everything about acids, bases, alkalis and salts. One of the latter will be discussed further - sodium carbonate. Let's look at everything related to sodium carbonate, from its chemical formula to its industrial and everyday uses.

So, sodium carbonate, the formula of which is written as follows: Na2CO3, is a salt of carbonic acid, which is also called sodium carbonate, or soda ash. This substance looks like a simple white powder, consisting of small grains, has no odor and has a rather unpleasant taste. It can cause severe poisoning and ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract if it enters the human body in large quantities. looks like this: two sodium atoms are connected by one pair of electrons to oxygen atoms (for each sodium atom there is one oxygen), oxygen atoms are connected by single bonds to a carbon atom, and carbon, in turn, is connected by four (two pairs) electrons to an atom oxygen. Thus, we see the following interesting picture: the sodium atoms have become positive ions with a charge of +1, the oxygen atoms have become negative and have a charge of -2, and carbon, which gave up four electrons, has a charge of +4. Thus, sodium carbonate, or rather its molecule, has polarity in some places.

There is also a slightly different salt: sodium bicarbonate, which has the chemical formula NaHCO3, which can also cause poisoning if it enters the body. reacts with metals that are more active than sodium, and sodium is reduced. This salt can also react with the alkali of a more active metal, and sodium will be reduced. If we carry out hydrolysis of this salt, then it should be noted that sodium hydroxide is a strong alkali, but has a rather weak character, so first of all you will get a base and there will be an alkaline environment in the test tube, which can be recognized using phenol-phthalein (it will color the salt solution in Crimson).

If we talk about sodium carbonate, the chemical properties of which practically do not differ from the chemical properties of bicarbonate, then it can be noted that if you carry out electrolysis of a melt and a solution of this salt, then their “behavior” will be exactly the same. Let's consider.

Electrolysis of the melt will end with the release of carbonate ion and two moles of sodium. If you hydrolyze a solution of this salt, you will get the following picture: hydrogen will be reduced at the anode, the hydroxo group will be reduced at the cathode, and as a result, the carbonate anion and two moles of sodium will remain.

It can and should also be noted that sodium carbonate reacts with substances such as, for example, nitrogen, hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. Substitution occurs, that is, carbonic acid is reduced, which immediately decomposes into water and carbon dioxide, or a salt of the acid that was added to sodium carbonate is obtained.

Approximately the same picture is obtained if you add a soluble (and no other, otherwise the reaction will not proceed!) salt of a stronger acid, but the reaction products should produce gas, precipitate or water.

Trivial names

Soda is the general name for technical sodium salts of carbonic acid.

• Na 2 CO 3 (sodium carbonate) - soda ash, laundry soda
• Na 2 CO 3 ·10H 2 O (sodium carbonate decahydrate, contains 62.5% water of crystallization) - washing soda; sometimes available as Na 2 CO 3 H 2 O or Na 2 CO 3 7H 2 O
• NaHCO 3 (sodium bicarbonate) - baking soda, sodium bicarbonate (obsolete), sodium bicarbonate

The name "soda" comes from the plant solyanka(lat. Salsola soda), from the ash of which it was extracted. Soda ash was called because to obtain it from crystalline hydrate it was necessary to calcinate it (that is, heat it to a high temperature).

Caustic soda is called sodium hydroxide (NaOH).

Oxides and hydroxides

Being in nature

In nature, soda is found in the ash of some seaweeds, as well as in the form of the following minerals:

• trona Na 2 CO 3 NaHCO 3 2H 2 O
• sodium (soda) Na 2 CO 3 10H 2 O
• thermosodium Na 2 CO 3 ·H 2 O.

Modern soda lakes are known in Transbaikalia and Western Siberia; Lake Natron in Tanzania and Lake Searles in California are very famous. Trona, which is of industrial importance, was discovered as part of the Eocene Green River sequence (Wyoming, USA). Along with trona, many previously considered rare minerals were discovered in this sedimentary sequence, including dawsonite, which is considered as a raw material for the production of soda and alumina. In the USA, natural soda satisfies more than 40% of the country's need for this mineral.

Receipt

The hydrogen chloride released during the reaction was captured with water to produce hydrochloric acid.

The first soda plant of this type in Russia was founded by industrialist M. Prang and appeared in Barnaul in 1864.

After the advent of the more economical (no by-product calcium sulfide remains in large quantities) and technologically advanced Solvay method, factories operating using the Leblanc method began to close. By 1900, 90% of factories produced soda using the Solvay method, and the last factories using the Leblanc method closed in the early 1920s.

Industrial ammonia method (Solvay method)

Until now, this method remains the main way to obtain soda in all countries.

Howe method

Developed by Chinese chemist Hou Debang in the 1930s. It differs from the Solvay process in that it does not use calcium hydroxide.

According to Howe's method, carbon dioxide and ammonia are added to a sodium chloride solution at a temperature of 40 degrees. Less soluble sodium bicarbonate precipitates during the reaction (as in the Solvay method). Then the solution is cooled to 10 degrees. In this case, ammonium chloride precipitates, and the solution is reused to produce the next portions of soda.

Comparison of methods

According to Howe's method, NH 4 Cl is formed as a by-product instead of CaCl 2 according to the Solvay method.

The Solvay method was developed before the advent of the Haber process, at that time ammonia was in short supply, so it was necessary to regenerate it from NH 4 Cl. Howe's method appeared later; the need for ammonia regeneration was no longer so urgent; accordingly, ammonia could not be extracted, but used as a nitrogen fertilizer in the form of an NH 4 Cl compound.

However, NH 4 Cl contains chlorine, the excess of which is harmful to many plants, so the use of NH 4 Cl as a fertilizer is limited. In turn, rice tolerates excess chlorine well, and in China, where NH 4 Cl is used for rice growing, the Hou method, which produces NH 4 Cl as a by-product, is more widely represented than in other regions.

Currently, in a number of countries, almost all artificially produced sodium carbonate is produced using the Solvay method (including the Howe method as a modification), namely in Europe 94% of artificially produced soda, worldwide - 84% (2000).

Properties

Crystalline hydrates of sodium carbonate exist in different forms: colorless monoclinic Na 2 CO 3 10H 2 O, at 32.017 °C it turns into colorless orthorhombic Na 2 CO 3 7H 2 O, the latter, when heated to 35.27 °C, colorless turns into orthorhombic Na 2 CO 3 H 2 O.

Anhydrous sodium carbonate is a colorless crystalline powder.

In an aqueous solution, sodium carbonate is hydrolyzed, which ensures an alkaline reaction of the environment. Hydrolysis equation (in ionic form):

CO 3 2− + H 2 O ↔ HCO 3 − + OH −

In the food industry, sodium carbonates are registered as a food additive E500, - an acidity regulator, a leavening agent that prevents clumping and caking. Sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na 2 CO 3) has the code 500i, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, NaHCO 3) - 500ii, a mixture of both - 500iii.

Also used for preparing photographic materials developer.

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Notes

Excerpt describing Sodium Carbonate

In the second hour, the four Rostov carriages, loaded and stowed, stood at the entrance. The carts with the wounded rolled out of the yard one after another.
The carriage in which Prince Andrei was carried, passing by the porch, attracted the attention of Sonya, who, together with the girl, was arranging seats for the countess in her huge tall carriage, which stood at the entrance.
– Whose stroller is this? – Sonya asked, leaning out of the carriage window.
“Didn’t you know, young lady?” - answered the maid. - The prince is wounded: he spent the night with us and is also coming with us.
- Who is this? What's your last name?
– Our very former groom, Prince Bolkonsky! – sighing, answered the maid. “They say he’s dying.”
Sonya jumped out of the carriage and ran to the Countess. The countess, already dressed for the trip, in a shawl and hat, tired, walked around the living room, waiting for her family in order to sit with the doors closed and pray before leaving. Natasha was not in the room.
“Maman,” said Sonya, “Prince Andrei is here, wounded, near death.” He's coming with us.
The Countess opened her eyes in fear and, grabbing Sonya’s hand, looked around.
- Natasha? - she said.
For both Sonya and the Countess, this news had only one meaning at first. They knew their Natasha, and the horror of what would happen to her at this news drowned out for them all sympathy for the person they both loved.
– Natasha doesn’t know yet; but he’s coming with us,” said Sonya.
- Are you talking about dying?
Sonya nodded her head.
The Countess hugged Sonya and began to cry.
"God works in mysterious ways!" - she thought, feeling that in everything that was done now, an omnipotent hand, previously hidden from people’s view, began to appear.
- Well, mom, everything is ready. What are you talking about?.. – Natasha asked with a lively face, running into the room.
“Nothing,” said the Countess. - It's ready, let's go. – And the countess bent down to her reticule to hide her upset face. Sonya hugged Natasha and kissed her.
Natasha looked at her questioningly.
- What you? What happened?
- There is nothing…
- Very bad for me?.. What is it? – asked the sensitive Natasha.
Sonya sighed and did not answer. The Count, Petya, m me Schoss, Mavra Kuzminishna, Vasilich entered the living room, and, having closed the doors, they all sat down and sat silently, without looking at each other, for several seconds.
The count was the first to stand up and, sighing loudly, began to make the sign of the cross. Everyone did the same. Then the count began to hug Mavra Kuzminishna and Vasilich, who remained in Moscow, and, while they caught his hand and kissed his shoulder, he lightly patted them on the back, saying something vague, affectionately soothing. The Countess went into the imagery, and Sonya found her there on her knees in front of the images that remained scattered along the wall. (According to family legends, the most expensive images were taken with them.)
On the porch and in the courtyard, people leaving with daggers and sabers with which Petya had armed them, with their trousers tucked into their boots and tightly belted with belts and sashes, said goodbye to those who remained.
As always during departures, much was forgotten and not properly packed, and for quite a long time two guides stood on both sides of the open door and steps of the carriage, preparing to give the Countess a ride, while girls with pillows, bundles, and carriages were running from home to the carriages. , and the chaise, and back.
- Everyone will forget their time! - said the countess. “You know that I can’t sit like that.” - And Dunyasha, gritting her teeth and not answering, with an expression of reproach on her face, rushed into the carriage to redo the seat.
- Oh, these people! - said the count, shaking his head.
The old coachman Yefim, with whom the countess was the only one who decided to ride, sitting high on his box, did not even look back at what was happening behind him. He knew from thirty years of experience that it would not be long before he was told “God bless!” and that when they say, they will stop him two more times and send him for forgotten things, and after that they will stop him again, and the countess herself will lean out of his window and ask him, by Christ God, to drive more carefully on the slopes. He knew this and therefore, more patiently than his horses (especially the left red one - Falcon, who kicked and, chewing, fingered the bit) waited for what would happen. Finally everyone sat down; the steps gathered and they threw themselves into the carriage, the door slammed, they sent for the box, the countess leaned out and said what she had to do. Then Yefim slowly took off his hat from his head and began to cross himself. The postilion and all the people did the same.
- With God blessing! - said Yefim, putting on his hat. - Pull it out! - The postilion touched. The right drawbar fell into the clamp, the high springs crunched, and the body swayed. The footman jumped onto the box as he walked. The carriage shook as it left the yard onto the shaking pavement, the other carriages also shook, and the train moved up the street. In the carriages, carriages and chaises, everyone was baptized at the church that was opposite. The people remaining in Moscow walked on both sides of the carriages, seeing them off.
Natasha had rarely experienced such a joyful feeling as the one she was experiencing now, sitting in the carriage next to the countess and looking at the walls of an abandoned, alarmed Moscow slowly moving past her. She occasionally leaned out of the carriage window and looked back and forth at the long train of wounded preceding them. Almost ahead of everyone, she could see the closed top of Prince Andrei's carriage. She did not know who was in it, and every time, thinking about the area of ​​​​her convoy, she looked for this carriage with her eyes. She knew she was ahead of everyone.
In Kudrin, from Nikitskaya, from Presnya, from Podnovinsky, several trains similar to the Rostov train arrived, and carriages and carts were already traveling in two rows along Sadovaya.
While driving around the Sukharev Tower, Natasha, curiously and quickly examining the people riding and walking, suddenly cried out in joy and surprise:
- Fathers! Mom, Sonya, look, it’s him!
- Who? Who?
- Look, by God, Bezukhov! - Natasha said, leaning out of the carriage window and looking at a tall, fat man in a coachman’s caftan, obviously a dressed-up gentleman by his gait and posture, who, next to a yellow, beardless old man in a frieze overcoat, approached under the arch of the Sukharev Tower.
- By God, Bezukhov, in a caftan, with some old boy! By God,” said Natasha, “look, look!”
- No, it’s not him. Is it possible, such nonsense.
“Mom,” Natasha shouted, “I’ll give you a beating that it’s him!” I assure you. Wait, wait! - she shouted to the coachman; but the coachman could not stop, because more carts and carriages were leaving Meshchanskaya, and they were shouting at the Rostovs to get going and not delay the others.
Indeed, although already much further away than before, all the Rostovs saw Pierre or a man unusually similar to Pierre, in a coachman's caftan, walking down the street with a bowed head and a serious face, next to a small beardless old man who looked like a footman. This old man noticed a face sticking out of the carriage at him and, respectfully touching Pierre's elbow, said something to him, pointing to the carriage. For a long time Pierre could not understand what he was saying; so he was apparently immersed in his thoughts. Finally, when he understood it, he looked as directed and, recognizing Natasha, at that very second, surrendering to the first impression, quickly headed towards the carriage. But, having walked ten steps, he, apparently remembering something, stopped.
Natasha’s face, sticking out of the carriage, shone with mocking affection.
- Pyotr Kirilych, go! After all, we found out! It is amazing! – she shouted, holding out her hand to him. - How are you? Why are you doing this?
Pierre took the outstretched hand and awkwardly kissed it as he walked (as the carriage continued to move).
- What's wrong with you, Count? – the countess asked in a surprised and compassionate voice.
- What? What? For what? “Don’t ask me,” Pierre said and looked back at Natasha, whose radiant, joyful gaze (he felt this without looking at her) filled him with its charm.
– What are you doing, or are you staying in Moscow? – Pierre was silent.
- In Moscow? – he said questioningly. - Yes, in Moscow. Farewell.
“Oh, I wish I were a man, I would certainly stay with you.” Oh, how good it is! - Natasha said. - Mom, let me stay. “Pierre looked absentmindedly at Natasha and wanted to say something, but the countess interrupted him:
– You were at the battle, we heard?
“Yes, I was,” answered Pierre. “Tomorrow there will be a battle again...” he began, but Natasha interrupted him:
- What’s the matter with you, Count? You don't look like yourself...
- Oh, don’t ask, don’t ask me, I don’t know anything myself. Tomorrow... No! Goodbye, goodbye,” he said, “a terrible time!” - And, falling behind the carriage, he walked onto the sidewalk.
Natasha leaned out of the window for a long time, beaming at him with a gentle and slightly mocking, joyful smile.

Pierre, since his disappearance from home, had already been living for the second day in the empty apartment of the late Bazdeev. Here's how it happened.
Waking up the next day after his return to Moscow and his meeting with Count Rostopchin, Pierre for a long time could not understand where he was and what they wanted from him. When he was informed, among the names of other people who were waiting for him in the reception room, that another Frenchman was waiting for him, bringing a letter from Countess Elena Vasilievna, he was suddenly overcome by that feeling of confusion and hopelessness to which he was capable of succumbing. It suddenly seemed to him that everything was over now, everything was confused, everything had collapsed, that there was neither right nor wrong, that there would be nothing ahead and that there was no way out of this situation. He, smiling unnaturally and muttering something, then sat on the sofa in a helpless position, then stood up, went to the door and looked through the crack into the reception area, then, waving his hands, returned back, I took up the book. Another time, the butler came to report to Pierre that the Frenchman, who had brought a letter from the countess, really wanted to see him even for a minute, and that they had come from the widow of I. A. Bazdeev to ask to accept the books, since Mrs. Bazdeeva herself had left for the village.
“Oh, yes, now, wait... Or no... no, go and tell me that I’ll come right now,” Pierre said to the butler.
But as soon as the butler came out, Pierre took the hat that was lying on the table and went out the back door from the office. There was no one in the corridor. Pierre walked the entire length of the corridor to the stairs and, wincing and rubbing his forehead with both hands, went down to the first landing. The doorman stood at the front door. From the landing to which Pierre had descended, another staircase led to the back entrance. Pierre walked along it and went out into the yard. Nobody saw him. But on the street, as soon as he walked out the gate, the coachmen standing with the carriages and the janitor saw the master and took off their hats in front of him. Feeling eyes on him, Pierre acted like an ostrich that hides its head in a bush so as not to be seen; he lowered his head and, quickening his pace, walked down the street.