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. -- f.anthony.n.finch <d...@dotat.at> http://dotat.at/ South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth: Southerly, 5 or 6, occasionally 7, veering southwesterly 4 or 5, then veering northerly 3 or 4 later. Slight or moderate, occasionally rough in South Utsire, Forties and Cromarty. Rain for a time. Moderate or good. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
