Hot Damn I Can Make My Own Sodium!!!

[Glaurung]

well, i know how to. my problem(besides parents) is that 1) how do i get the salt up to 800C, and 2) i need to know the step by step specifics.

any of you chem majors out there want to help me out on this one?

(i was thinking of buying a small kiln. those get up to about 2000F!)

how long does the salt stay melted?

i have a basic understanding of how everything works. its just that i need a little more understanding.(kind of afraid to approach my chem teacher about it. shes an idiot anyway. horrible teacher)

 

[scorch]

you can make sodium? send me some!!! (in the oil of course )

 

[starlifter]

well, i know how to. my problem(besides parents) is that 1) how do i get the salt up to 800C, and 2) i need to know the step by step specifics.

LOL, depending on what country you live in, making such a substance is likely against an ordinace at a minimum, and a Felony at the maximum. I could tell you what you want to know, but ... hehe ... not a chance. Assuming you do not realize it, Sodium is not a substance you should be handling anyway. It is quite dangerous, and on top of that, there is absolutely no reason you could possibly need it, much less need to make it yourself. If you have a "need" for sodium, sarin gas, uranium hexaflouride, anthrax, etc. ... and assuming you are in America... apply for a permit (you won't get it as a minor), and let the authorities approve and supervise your use of it.

BTW, I am a college physics prof (Cert=CA, though not teaching at this time).

EDIT: If I were a Mod, i'd just delete this whole thread... some things just aren't appropriate for even hypothetical discussion in a Civ II site.

 

[scorch]

cmon man... don't be stink!!! sodium is so cool!!! it blows up in water!!! you gotta think that is cool, if you don't, then you must be an 80yr old lady.

seriosly, just be a nice person and tell himl, i wanna get my hands on some of that ****...

BTW Glaurung , and easier way to get some, would be to break into a nearby science lab. one of my mates nicked some 5mol acid from our school lab, he almost got suspended for it...

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Sodium! Bah! I laugh at your little chemicals. I can make my own kryptonite, and have a large supply of Sipstrassi , so I have no need for such petty substances.
In seriousness, Professor C-141 is quite right in that playing with chemicals is not something you should be doing. I personally know one stupid bugger who blew half his face off, and got blinded in one eye, and fairly screwed in the other by playing with red phosphorus. I **** you not. These things are to be handled under proper environments, sensibly, not as illicit fun for schoolboys.
If this makes me an 80 year old woman, then I'll go get my walking frame
If you like the idea of blowing stuff up, wait a few years, join the military, and they'll give substances much nicer than sodium to play with for a good cause in the proper circumstances.

Until then, just go fry an ant with a magnifying glass, or mail order some Iraqi uranium

 

[Sixchan]

Sodium blows up in water?

For some REAL fun, try ceasium, or, if you have a radiation suit handy, Francium. Alkaline metals are much better. In chemistry, I saw this video where they put ceasium in water, and it wasn't just that which blew up, it was the whole @"£!ing tank of water!

 

[Glaurung]

you can find out how to make sodium in your local library, or, even better, on the internet.

melt NaCl(table salt)(800degreescelcius(about 600 if you add CaCl2(CaCl2:NaCl::3:2))

put it in a thing that has a cathode and an anode thats hooked up to a 9v battery(>4v is the least, i think). LOOK OUT FOR CHLORINE GAS!!!

dont really know anything else from there. maybe ill ask my pottery teacher if i can use her kiln to melt the stuff(sat, or after school). and, i would need to construct a semielaborate downs cell. maybe ill put up a diagram. or, i can just make a box with a cathode and an anode in it, and use a fan to blow away the Cl2 gas!


why would i make it?

for fun. sodium is awesome.

to sell. although, im starting to think thats not such a great idea...

it would make a great school/internet business, though. $10 for a cubic inch of sodium! that would be one hardcore profit, eh?

 

[starlifter]

ask my pottery teacher if i can use her kiln to melt the stuff(sat, or after school).

That is about the smartest thing you've said.... except why not just do a science project under your School's supervision? Ask your science teacher for help & make it a scool project, and he/she just might be able to keep you from becoming a felon before you're 18. you won't be able to keep or sell it. If you did manage to make Sodium on your own, and sell it... you'd certainly have attention from the FBI, as would this BBS when they investigated.

Sodium is Atomic Number 11, Atomic Weight 22.98977, with an electron configuration of [Ne]3s1. It has 13 isotopes, and is important to the paper, glass, soap, textile, petroleum, chemical, and metal industries. Like every reactive element, it is never found free in nature.

Sodium is a soft, bright, silvery metal which floats on water, decomposing it with the evolution of hydrogen and the formation of the hydroxide... it may or may not ignite spontaneously on water, depending on the amount of oxide and metal exposed to the water. It normally does not ignite in air at temperatures below 115oC.

it would make a great school/internet business, though. $10 for a cubic inch of sodium! that would be one hardcore profit,

Oh BTW, metallic sodium is priced at about 15 to 20 cents/lb in quantity; reagent grade (ACS) sodium cost about $35/lb (in January 1990).

by Sixchan:

For some REAL fun, try ceasium, or, if you have a radiation suit handy, Francium. Alkaline metals are much better. In chemistry, I saw this video where they put ceasium in water, and it wasn't just that which blew up, it was the whole @"£!ing tank of water

Its "Cesium", and what you observed is an exothermic reaction. Cesium is a metal, silvery white, soft, and ductile.... it is the most electropositive and most alkaline element, and it has more isotopes than any element (32) with masses ranging from 114 to 145.

BTW, Cesium is one of only three metals that are liquid at room temperature (others are gallium and mercury). It reacts explosively with cold water, and even reacts with ice at temperatures above -116C; Cesium hydroxide, the strongest base known, attacks glass. Cesium is used in atomic clocks (accurate to 5 seconds in 300 years!), and recently found application in ion propulsion systems.

 

[joespaniel]

Jeez Starlifter, your so smart they should let you fly airplanes or something

I agree this is not a good topic for a thread. The FBI and other agencies might like to why this young man is so interested in explosives.

Simon hit the nail on the head; Glaurung, you should join the Army Corps of Engineers or the EOD! They get to play with alot of realy wild stuff. My infantry unit trained with them on different occasions and had combat engineers attached to us in Somolia. Even I have to admit, C-4 is pretty cool.

 

[scorch]

in the army you have to do heaps of boring stuff like saluting... The only things that attract me to the army is, i can get a scholar ship, GUns and stuff, and free weighttraining and fitness and stuff.

Hey, can someone send me some of that cesian stuff plez?

 

[starlifter]

i can get a scholar ship, GUns and stuff, and free weighttraining and fitness and stuff.

We have some advanced higher institutions of learning in the US that will allow you to get an education, see and play with lots of 'guns', have at least one hour of weight training and exercise each day, free food, free medical & dental. You have to get thru several interfiews, though... and sometimes it is crowded. But you'll make lots of close freindships... some of the guys will doubtless love you! Several institutions with openings are San Quinten, Joliet University, Huntsville State, Attica U. But since you're in NZ, you aren't eligilble for the lessons these places will teach you .

 

[Archbob]

Why would you want to. Sodium is a dangerous element by itself. Actually you can separate sodium chloride by one of 3 ways:

1) Melt it(already mentioned)
2) Electroalysis(use strong electic energy to separate Na and Cl)
3)Find a element to do a single-displacement reaction. NaCl's electronegitivity difference is 2.1, making it quite a strong ionic bond. But There are other chemicals that can "rip" the clorine away from the sodiu, I believe.

 

[kundor]

Don't go overboard, starlifter...the FBI would not investigate sodium sales...sodium is a freely available element that anyone can buy, and there certainly aren't any laws regulating whether you can melt salt It's not really that dangerous. If Glaurung wants to melt salt and attach it to electrodes, that's his right. If anyone is hurt by the gas or the exploding sodium (I doubt he'd get the amount or the purity to cause damage) then he'd be in trouble.

 

[GeneralHotRod]

Back when I was in highschool our chem teacher told us a story of a previous student.

This idiot had also thought sodium was pretty cool. He decided to stash some out of class in his front jeans pocket.

I prefer a good magnesium fire to sodium anyday. You can stick some burning magnesium in between two blocks of Dry Ice(frozen CO2). It oxidizes the O2 out of the dry ice and leaves pure carbon. Now thats a fire!!

 

[Becka]

I remember our physical science teacher telling us about some guy who took a big chunk of sodium from his school's science lab to a golf course. The golf course had a pond with a small bridge over it, so he stood on the bridge and dumped the sodium into the water. He blew up the bridge. (Whoops!)

Originally posted by starlifter
But you'll make lots of close freindships... some of the guys will doubtless love you!

 

[joespaniel]

Super-lovin in the supermax!:love2: