Skip to main content

Ad

space-iconSpace and Physics
clock-iconPUBLISHEDMay 16, 2016

This Is What Happens If You Chuck Half A Kilo Of Sodium Into A Lake

Tom Hale headshot

Tom Hale

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture.

Senior Journalist

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture.View full profile

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture.

View full profile
article image
EatsTooMuchJam/YouTube

Adding sodium to water is a stable of high-school chemistry classrooms. If you've seen it before, it's usually done with tiny nuggets of sodium and a puny water bath, for fairly sensible reasons. Well, this video by EatsTooMuchJam shows what happens when you sling a frisbee made out of 0.45 kilograms (1 pound) of sodium into a river.

The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

As you can imagine, this isn’t one you should do yourself, kids. That violent chemical reaction is releasing a fair amount of hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide, which isn’t going to do that river or its inhabitants any good.

 

 


Written by 

Add us as a Google preferred source to see more of our
trusted coverage in Search