Sodium is a soft, silvery-white metal, but it's not used directly to make salt. It reacts violently with water and air, so it's not practical for everyday use.

Here's how salt is made:

* Sodium chloride (NaCl), which is common salt, is naturally found in seawater and underground deposits.

* To obtain salt from seawater, it is evaporated, leaving behind the salt crystals.

* To obtain salt from underground deposits, the salt is mined.

So while sodium is an element involved in the chemical makeup of salt, it's not the metal used directly to make it.