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Author: Subject: Why doesn't granite and water explode
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[*] posted on 23-3-2015 at 14:25


Not make fun of your knowledge ISCGora, just avoiding confusion.
Just for reference, here's the composition of granite:
SiO2 72.04% (silica)
Al2O3 14.42% (alumina)
K2O 4.12%
Na2O 3.69%
CaO 1.82%
FeO 1.68%
Fe2O3 1.22%
MgO 0.71%
TiO2 0.30%
P2O5 0.12%
MnO 0.05%
Of course most or all of these aren't actually these compounds. Like there's no free phosphorus pentoxide in there, it's going to be a phosphate ion, probably in combination with calcium. And probably most of the other oxides are in combination with silicon dioxide to make complex silicates.





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[*] posted on 23-3-2015 at 14:39


Not to mention that granite itself is composed of little pieces of feldspar, mica, and quartz all blended together, which each may be present in different amounts and have different compositions, leading to a wide variety of different granites.
Semi-related, it's funny that this thread happened to pop up, as yesterday I was around tons of granite, out at Enchanted Rock, a very large exposed dome of pink granite fairly close to where I live. Because of this thread, while I was there I was imagining what it would be like if it suddenly decided to react explosively with water. :o
IMGP0076.JPG - 1.8MB
(see the tiny people on top for scale)

[Edited on 3-23-2015 by zts16]




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[*] posted on 23-3-2015 at 22:06


Quote: Originally posted by neptunium  
since that lonely electron is much closer (and therefore harder to remove) to the nucleus than cesium for example, Li wont be as agressive and violent when expose to a substance like water than K or Rb.


This isn't really true. In aqueous solution, lithium's valence electron is technically easier to remove. In fact, as a reducing agent in water, lithium is actually the strongest of the alkali metals, not the weakest. It's stronger than sodium, potassium, rubidium and even cesium. Just look at a reduction potential table. At first glance you might think lithium would be the weakest of the bunch due to its valence electron being so close to its nucleus. And according to its ionization energy, lithium's valence electron is indeed the most difficult to remove. However, keep in mind that this is for gas-phase lithium alone, not lithium reacting with water. It doesn't take into consideration the interaction between lithium and water itself, or lithium's extremely high hydration energy due to the small size of the Li+ ion and its high charge density.

The reason lithium doesn't react as violently or as aggressively with water as the other alkali metals do is because of its higher melting point. Unlike sodium, potassium, cesium etc, lithium doesn't become molten during the reaction, so there's a lot less surface area in contact with the water at any given time.

[Edited on 3-24-2015 by Darkstar]
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[*] posted on 23-3-2015 at 22:20


excelent remark Darkstar ! i was only pointing out the theory since the question was theorytical in nature . it is true that Li is THE most electro positive perfect for high amps battery .. and because of its smaller size remain bonded longer than bigger atoms at higher temperature...
Point taken!




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[*] posted on 26-3-2015 at 07:52


What about chickens? Why don't chickens explode?



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[*] posted on 26-3-2015 at 09:48


If you watched 21 Jump Street you'd know chickens do explode.



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[*] posted on 26-3-2015 at 15:07


why cant you explode? this is getting a bit silly now

[Edited on 26-3-2015 by neptunium]




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[*] posted on 26-3-2015 at 15:55


Quote: Originally posted by zts16  

Semi-related, it's funny that this thread happened to pop up, as yesterday I was around tons of granite, out at Enchanted Rock, a very large exposed dome of pink granite fairly close to where I live.


Is that an exposed batholith? Cool to have a nice geological feature close to where you live :P




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