Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about SODIUM ACETATE!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Sodium acetate, CH3COONa, also abbreviated NaOAc, is the sodium salt of acetic acid . it is useful for increasing yields of DNA isolation by ethanol precipitation . it is often used to give potato chips a salt and vinegar flavor . it is useful especially in biochemical applications where reactions are pH-dependent . Sodium acetate trihydrate crystals melt at 136.4 °F/ the bond-forming process of crystallization is exothermic . the latent heat of fusion is about 264–289 kJ/kg . a sodium acetate heat pack can be easily reused carbonic acid readily decomposes into gaseous carbon dioxide and water . this is the reaction taking place in the well-known “volcano” that occurs when baking soda and vinegar are combined .