An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chemistry textbooks

Re:An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chem... by cbhl on Thursday June 25, 2020 @05:14AM (#23638537)

My high school chemistry teacher lamented that he had fond memories of taking a lump of a metal (sodium, potassium) and watching the fireworks with his students when they threw it in a pond out back. These days, he has to settle for taking a small sliver and dropping it into a beaker of water behind a safety shield.

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Re:An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chem... by phyzome on Thursday June 25, 2020 @03:41PM (#23644674)

A big chunk can jump back out at you, along the original angle of incidence. And it can really fuck up the pond's chemistry. So I endorse not throwing big chunks of alkali metal in ponds.

Putting a small lump in a bucket outdoors using a rope-activated rig sounds pretty reasonable, though.

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Re:An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chem... by mirimir on Thursday June 25, 2020 @05:02PM (#23645664)

Sodium in hot concentrated nitric acid is very impressive. As you say, outside with a string-activated rig. Short term, it does kill vegetation. But long term, it's fertilizer.

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Re:An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chem... by mnw21cam on Thursday June 25, 2020 @05:24AM (#23638616)

My school teacher chucked a golf-ball-size lump of sodium into the school swimming pool, then declared a wish to see the face of the guy who tests the pH of the pool the next morning.

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Re:An experiment suggested by a PhD student may rewrite chem... by TomJansen on Thursday June 25, 2020 @11:08AM (#23641589)

Ha! My chemistry teacher did the same! Killed all the fish in the pond one time, or so he said.

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