I know it's possible to isolate sodium from the hydroxide with magnesium powder, but does it work the same way with calcium?
[Edited on 6-5-2012 by KernelPicnic]elementcollector1 - 5-5-2012 at 19:17
Maybe, maybe not. Magnesium steals oxygen from the NaOH because it has a higher affinity for oxygen, MgO being somewhat covalent. So, in the same way
lithium can isolate sodium from its salts, I say go for it.m1tanker78 - 5-5-2012 at 21:52
NaOH and the resulting nascent Na metal have a relatively low melting point. Calcium has a high melting point.
Even if you could make some small specks of Ca metal, it would be impossible to isolate from the mix IMO.
I know it's possible to isolate sodium from the hydroxide with magnesium powder, but does it work the same way with calcium?
If you would have provided the reference you would at least avoid the nonsense replies. Furthermore, by reading the several forum threads on the
topic you could have also found the answer to your question by yourself. The boiling point of calcium is 1484 °C, while that of magnesium is almost
400 K lower. So it is not possible to drive the reaction to give calcium, at least not by distillation like is done with the more volatile alkali
metals.
