[time-nuts] alkali metals and water
Tony Finch
dot at dotat.at
Wed Mar 2 16:14:58 UTC 2011
On Wed, 2 Mar 2011, Raj wrote:
> I have personally seen the explosion when a chunk of sodium was dropped
> into water. My senior who was the victim had to have his eyes washed out
> and such..
Sodium's reaction with water is more explosive than the other alkali
metals (except perhaps Potassium) because it is the hydrogen from the
reaction that causes the explosion. A given mass of sodium produces more
hydrogen than a given mass of caesium (lower molar weight -> more atoms)
and its lower reactivity means it produces a larger plume of hydrogen
before it gets hot enough to ignite it.
http://theodoregray.com/periodictable/AlkaliBangs/
Tony.
--
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