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Topic: Fun with Alkali Metals  (Read 34042 times)

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Offline Kenichi

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Fun with Alkali Metals
« on: May 13, 2006, 08:24:40 AM »
This is great. Ka-friggen-boom!  No wonder we couldn't play with that stuff in lab.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2134266654801392897&q=alkali+metal
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Offline Alberto_Kravina

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2006, 08:43:18 AM »
:o I would NEVER EVER play with Rubidium and Caesium... THAT COULD HURT A BIT (and maybe not only a bit...)
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Offline mrdeadman

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2006, 12:53:21 PM »
that was such a cool video. a little piece of Cs caused an outrageous explosion  ;D Y.E.S. YES! MAG-nificent
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Offline constant thinker

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2006, 01:15:44 PM »
That's sweet.

I want to see Fr. It must be a HUGE explosion. To bad it's a radioactive metal.
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Offline Mitch

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2006, 03:58:35 PM »
It would be a mess to clean up all the radioactive hydroxide that splashed everywhere.
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Offline Alberto_Kravina

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2006, 04:02:45 PM »
Quote from: Mitch on May 13, 2006, 03:58:35 PM
It would be a mess to clean up all the radioactive hydroxide that splashed everywhere.
That sounds interesting, I've never made a RADIOACTIVE mess so far... ;)

Moreover, here is only 20-30 g of the element present in the earth's crust at any one time (Source: Webelements )
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Offline Mitch

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2006, 02:47:41 AM »
The longest living Francium isotope is 3 minutes, I somhow doubt there is 30grams of it in the Earth's crust.
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Offline Equi

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2006, 05:15:24 AM »
Wondering how much they paid for the Caesium.
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Offline Borek

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2006, 08:22:18 AM »
Stupid :) But fun :)
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Offline rctrackstar2007

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2006, 12:40:10 PM »
i wonder what the explosion would be like when they double the amount of cesium  :o
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Offline Will

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2006, 12:46:28 PM »
Quote from: Equi on May 14, 2006, 05:15:24 AM
Wondering how much they paid for the Caesium.

I know a website where they you can buy Caesium and Uranium! ;D
Caesium:
1g about £240
5g about £350
10g about £540
Shame I don't have a Visa/Mastercard yet :(

My 100th Post  :)
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Offline Alberto_Kravina

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2006, 12:51:19 PM »
Quote
1g about £240
5g about £350
10g about £540
I thought it was more expensive :P

Quote
The longest living Francium isotope is 3 minutes, I somhow doubt there is 30grams of it in the Earth's crust.
On the isotope table it says that 87223Fr has a half life of 22.00 +0.07 minutes ???
« Last Edit: May 14, 2006, 12:54:41 PM by Alberto_Kravina »
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Offline jdurg

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2006, 02:27:31 PM »
I question the validity of those Rb and Cs explosions.  Me thinks that there was more than just rubidium and cesium in the bottom of those bathtubs.   ;) ;D
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Offline Borek

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2006, 02:49:47 PM »
Can't remember if they named amount of metals used - something like grams? 1 gram of Cs is able to produce 84 mL of H2 (at STP). Not much.

Anybody here knows how amount of hydrogen translates into kaboom size?

But that's not the only problem. I wonder if the reaction speed really depends on the reactivity here? Perhaps transport of water to the metal surface becomes limiting factor, as metal is covered with the cushion made of hydrogen; it have to move away to make place for more water, this requires time.

I think that explosion power in such a system should be a (partially) random thing and I doubt in the easily observable dependence between power and reactivity. Amount of energy should depend on the amount of hydrogen released but left close to the ignition point. That i turns depend on how long reaction proceeds - and I don't think one can predict how fast hydrogen will get ignited. With all that fizzling and splashing speed at which metal gets hot is not constant, so sometimes ignition point is reached sooner, sometimes later - and that in turns means different explosion size.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2006, 02:53:17 PM by Borek »
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Offline Will

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Re: Fun with Alkali Metals
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2006, 02:52:50 PM »
Quote from: jdurg on May 16, 2006, 02:27:31 PM
I question the validity of those Rb and Cs explosions.  Me thinks that there was more than just rubidium and cesium in the bottom of those bathtubs.   ;) ;D

Could there have been concentrated acid, eg 15M Nitric acid in the bath tub? I assume that would be a faster and more violent reaction ???.
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