Comments on: Fun With Alkali Metals http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/ Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:16:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-103431 Clifford Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:07:46 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-103431 The previous commenter is totally clever and original!! not The previous commenter is totally clever and original!! not

]]> By: O'Roger http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-103422 O'Roger Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:21:09 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-103422 This website is totally awesome!! not This website is totally awesome!! not

]]> By: Some of What Matters - Asymptotia http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-83166 Some of What Matters - Asymptotia Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:01:13 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-83166 [...] Fun with Alkali Metals In which is featured a YouTube clip of a video from a TV show in the UK called Brainiac. They describe fun things that happen when you put alkali metals (like sodium, potassium, etc) into water. They feature two huge explosions. All very fun. Rather than just show the clip, I end up spending some time talking about why alkali metals react strongly with water, in terms that I hope most people can understand with a little effort. (Sadly, I learned later that the video had the two big explosions faked, for dramatic purposes. A sad thing for integrity in science education. Happily, my explanations are nonetheless true…) [...] [...] Fun with Alkali Metals In which is featured a YouTube clip of a video from a TV show in the UK called Brainiac. They describe fun things that happen when you put alkali metals (like sodium, potassium, etc) into water. They feature two huge explosions. All very fun. Rather than just show the clip, I end up spending some time talking about why alkali metals react strongly with water, in terms that I hope most people can understand with a little effort. (Sadly, I learned later that the video had the two big explosions faked, for dramatic purposes. A sad thing for integrity in science education. Happily, my explanations are nonetheless true…) [...]

]]> By: Correlations http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-83068 Correlations Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:44:22 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-83068 <strong>Come In, Sit Down, Join In!...</strong> I'm a physicist, and you'll find me in Los Angeles most of the time. I work at the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Southern California.... Come In, Sit Down, Join In!…

I’m a physicist, and you’ll find me in Los Angeles most of the time. I work at the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Southern California….

]]> By: What Matters? - Asymptotia http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82862 What Matters? - Asymptotia Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:07:28 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82862 [...] I jokingly thought a few months ago that I ought to just look at my last few blog posts the day before and just talk about what’s in those. What can I see… Well, there’s public transport, community and the environment, composting and gardening, science and television (and scientific honesty). Not bad. (Good thing I did not do that post on dating. Probably not a good topic for WMMW…) I can probably weave something out of those. Do I blog about those things by accident, or because there are some themes there that are being brought out? What are the big themes in those then? Random scattered thoughts follow…. Access. [...] [...] I jokingly thought a few months ago that I ought to just look at my last few blog posts the day before and just talk about what’s in those. What can I see… Well, there’s public transport, community and the environment, composting and gardening, science and television (and scientific honesty). Not bad. (Good thing I did not do that post on dating. Probably not a good topic for WMMW…) I can probably weave something out of those. Do I blog about those things by accident, or because there are some themes there that are being brought out? What are the big themes in those then? Random scattered thoughts follow…. Access. [...]

]]> By: Carl Brannen http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82703 Carl Brannen Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:10:31 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82703 A strange fact about sodium is that if you buy it in bulk, it is <a href="http://www.mannsvillechemical.com/synopsis/report.html" rel="nofollow">a lot cheaper</a> than you'd think. I would have thought that the show organizers would have been able to purchase enough to put on a proper display. A strange fact about sodium is that if you buy it in bulk, it is a lot cheaper than you’d think. I would have thought that the show organizers would have been able to purchase enough to put on a proper display.

]]> By: Yvette http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82525 Yvette Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:50:18 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82525 Looks cool either way. Though by this progression, I am looking forward to a Bill Nye the Science Guy post soon. :) Looks cool either way. Though by this progression, I am looking forward to a Bill Nye the Science Guy post soon. :)

]]> By: pedant http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82471 pedant Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:40:12 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82471 I remember our chemistry teacher (Miss Rawsthorne) inspiring her class of twelve year olds with an account of her celebration of the end of World War Two - she and her fellow chemists (they worked at Liverpool university, developing less horrible forms of margarine) threw the lab's entire stock of alkali metals into the River Mersey in the dead of night and generated a splendid pyrotechnic display. Health and safety were not issues back in those days. We may not have had YouTube then, but we got the general idea. I remember our chemistry teacher (Miss Rawsthorne) inspiring her class of twelve year olds with an account of her celebration of the end of World War Two - she and her fellow chemists (they worked at Liverpool university, developing less horrible forms of margarine) threw the lab’s entire stock of alkali metals into the River Mersey in the dead of night and generated a splendid pyrotechnic display. Health and safety were not issues back in those days. We may not have had YouTube then, but we got the general idea.

]]> By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82444 Clifford Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:04:19 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82444 Well.. it's not just the volume yield, the rate's really important - so the more reactive the better, no? -cvj Well.. it’s not just the volume yield, the rate’s really important - so the more reactive the better, no?

-cvj

]]> By: Carl Brannen http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82435 Carl Brannen Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:27:19 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82435 When I was in junior high school, our science instructor put a half kilo of sodium in a waste paper basket (metal can) half filled with water. This was done outside. The explosion left a vertical plume of steam about 40 feet tall. When it came time for my experiment, I ran a set of experiments showing how changing the amount of sugar, yeast, and water in one of those photographer's film containers takes how long to build up enough pressure to "cause the contents to leake". Of course they do no such thing, but instead blow the top off. The instructor loved it, even though it was done at his expense. By the way, having worked through college at a weapons testing lab, I can assure you that hydrogen gas explosions do not look anything like what was shown in the video. The explosions blew out the bottoms of the tubs leaving the rest untouched. A real hydrogen gas explosion starts above the surface of the water and is directed up. The tub might be cracked at the top, but the bottom would be largely unhurt. And as far as which alkali metal is most effective at doing this sort of thing, I would think that gram for gram (and that is so little metal that it really isn't going to amount to anything), sodium will make more hydrogen than the heavier alkali metals. When I was in junior high school, our science instructor put a half kilo of sodium in a waste paper basket (metal can) half filled with water. This was done outside. The explosion left a vertical plume of steam about 40 feet tall.

When it came time for my experiment, I ran a set of experiments showing how changing the amount of sugar, yeast, and water in one of those photographer’s film containers takes how long to build up enough pressure to “cause the contents to leake”. Of course they do no such thing, but instead blow the top off. The instructor loved it, even though it was done at his expense.

By the way, having worked through college at a weapons testing lab, I can assure you that hydrogen gas explosions do not look anything like what was shown in the video. The explosions blew out the bottoms of the tubs leaving the rest untouched. A real hydrogen gas explosion starts above the surface of the water and is directed up. The tub might be cracked at the top, but the bottom would be largely unhurt.

And as far as which alkali metal is most effective at doing this sort of thing, I would think that gram for gram (and that is so little metal that it really isn’t going to amount to anything), sodium will make more hydrogen than the heavier alkali metals.

]]> By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82424 Clifford Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:54:07 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82424 Bloody Hell! That's awful! thanks.... will update post! -cvj Bloody Hell! That’s awful!

thanks…. will update post!

-cvj

]]> By: Tristram Brelstaff http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82419 Tristram Brelstaff Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:16:36 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/09/29/fun-with-alkali-metals/#comment-82419 Alas, he rubidium and caesium explosions in that video were faked: <a href="http://www.badscience.net/?p=270" rel="nofollow">http://www.badscience.net/?p=270</a>. Alas, he rubidium and caesium explosions in that video were faked: http://www.badscience.net/?p=270.

]]>