Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Sodium Chloride & the appartment dweller

gardul - 15-11-2014 at 02:04

I have a problem.No no Idon't need help with this experiment. Well okay I kinda do but not in the way you would think. I used to do this all the time when I lived at my dads and were much younger. Dad has his own land and is located in the middle of no where. But unforently at this time, He is located in New york I live in arizona. That is a bit of distence just to show my wife this.

My wife wants to see this experiment, but I am unsure how to do this safely due to my current living situations. Which is the bane of most chemists. APARTMENTS. (shudders)

My thoughts where this.

the substence that will be used to produce the small amount chlorine will be in a flask that is stoppered of and a tube will run to a bigger flask. I am thinking that this flask (1000ml) will hopefully container the chlorine and the gas from the actual reaction. with out much issue.

But I am not really sure if this will work. There are many ways to nuetrilize the left over chlorine. Please tell me if this is just insanity and should never be attempted where I am at. or if someone has a better idea please speak freely.

Edit: Jeez I must have been tired. I have already found a solution to this. A very safe one. Anyway if the mods want to delete this.

[Edited on 15-11-2014 by gardul]

MrHomeScientist - 18-11-2014 at 14:06

What's the actual experiment here?

At least the chlorine generation part can be mitigated by leading the gas into a dilute hydroxide solution to neutralize it. I'd recommend doing this on your balcony/porch if available - that's what I used to do when I lived in an apartment. If you're friendly with your neighbors it might not be a bad idea to notify them to not panic if they smell any fumes, too.

aga - 18-11-2014 at 14:19

Go with your Gut feeling.

Clearly you have misgivings about it, otherwise you'd not have posted this.

ALWAYS go with the gut feeling - it is almost always 100% correct.

Endo - 18-11-2014 at 14:34

If the experiment you are gearing up for is to make sodium chloride from the elements, and not alarm the neighbors...

One safety tip. When placing the sodium into a container filled with chlorine (captured by water displacement) avoid having any water in the bottom of the reaction vessel come into contact with the sodium metal. One person I know had a 2L Erlenmeyer flask explode in his hand while showing this demo. Lowering in a bent spoon or ladle holding the sodium, or even a piece of window screen in the bottom of the container to keep the sodium out of any water in the bottom may help. You can cover the top of the reaction vessel, but don't cap or stopper it.

Good Luck!



gardul - 18-11-2014 at 16:27

Thank you for the ideas.

I actually decided to do this at wife's parents house where it was a little more open and less people around. They all fully enjoyed it. Parents being parents, I got alecture in why I don't go back to school for chemistry and all that stuff. I think i'm just getting to old to go back to college for something like that.

MrHomeScientist - 19-11-2014 at 06:54

Never too old to learn! I want to go back for a chemistry degree too, but we'll see how that works out with my current job.

The Na + Cl demo is one of my favorites. I've had the ability to do it for forever but for whatever reason I never got around to it. I think it is THE chemical reaction: combine a choking green gas that was used in chemical warfare with a metal that explodes when it gets wet, and you get table salt!

aga - 19-11-2014 at 12:07

A restaurant that had those ingredients on the table just in case you wanted extra seasoning would be definitely worth visiting !

gardul - 19-11-2014 at 13:27

Quote: Originally posted by aga  
A restaurant that had those ingredients on the table just in case you wanted extra seasoning would be definitely worth visiting !


That would be kinda neat actually. The insurance to cover such would be insane.

blogfast25 - 20-11-2014 at 05:14

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Never too old to learn! I want to go back for a chemistry degree too, but we'll see how that works out with my current job.

The Na + Cl demo is one of my favorites. I've had the ability to do it for forever but for whatever reason I never got around to it. I think it is THE chemical reaction: combine a choking green gas that was used in chemical warfare with a metal that explodes when it gets wet, and you get table salt!


Fantastic! Hope you do...

There is something almost 'magical' about simple chemical transformations, something that attracted me to chemistry from about 13. Of course now we know it's a kind of 'Lego but with atoms' but that makes it no less fascinating.

[Edited on 20-11-2014 by blogfast25]