no
It makes the dough go through a proses of fermentation which makes it expand so bread or cakes rises and get softer and fluffier.
It causes your recepie to rise. ------- Thermal decomposition of baking soda and releasing of carbon dioxide and water vapours.
Baking soda (called "sal aeratus" in the 1800s) and buttermilk (or milk soured with vinegar or lemon juice) react together to produce carbon dioxide, like baking powder and water, or yeast. This...
If you mean baking soda for baking powder, or vice versa, then no, they act differently.