What you're suggesting is not only perfectly ok but it's also a good idea. You're compartmentalizing your email streams to keep ones from certain sources separate from others.

Your Facebook participation won't flood your normal email account, and if you find Facebook isn't to your liking, you can unsubscribe and walk away.

You absolutely can do it and it is very simple it will not affect your other email at all you will just have to sign in to each one on their respective pages to access the email on that account. So go ahead and give it a try, you can use gmail, hotmail, yahoo, or any of the other free webmail.
It is best if you do not import your contacts into that email account especially if you are going to use it for facebook so that it can not have access to all of your contacts to send out invites to.
My advice is to find out all the settings for creating a good secure private facebook account and keep it updated so that you have no surprises. Things change frequently on facebook!
Here you can find lots of good info on that subject.
how to setup a secure facebook account - Google Search

edit to say It is not a good idea to use the same user name and password for this new email account, you want it to have no connections to your others and be sure you use a good secure password that is not composed of real words but of random letters and numbers, possibly initials and birth dates or partial address numbers.
Password Generator & Checker : How Secure is my Password

This post was edited by ravencajun on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 18:20

Thank you both. Very helpful answers and I really appreciate them.
Lois