I done the reaction between Magnesium and Sodium today and when I broke up the slag that had formed I saw what reminded me of veins of ore in stone.
What is this? I know I have beads of sodium (circled as yellow) just I'm curious to know what it is circled in red.
Also I used vegetable oil instead of mineral as I had none, this is why it might like a but frothy.
krabpustelnik - 23-8-2015 at 01:28
Quote:
I done the reaction between Magnesium and Sodium
What do you mean ? I think it was reaction between magnesium and sodium hydroxide ? Did you use any catalyst ? Did you use magnesium powder or pieces
? ave369 - 23-8-2015 at 02:48
Toss the slag in water. If you see bubbles of hydrogen, then it's sodium. If you don't see any, it's magnesium.Tdep - 23-8-2015 at 04:56
A white product from a magnesium reduction? Like... Magnesium oxide and hydroxide? elementcollector1 - 23-8-2015 at 10:26
This reaction has been proven to produce sodium metal, but in god-awful quantities. Have you seen Nighthawkinlight's video on separating out the
metal?Corrosive Joeseph - 23-8-2015 at 10:48
I looked at this method ages ago and decided it just wasn't good enough.
Toss the slag in water. If you see bubbles of hydrogen, then it's sodium. If you don't see any, it's magnesium.
Magnesium will also liberate Hydrogen on contact with water, though no where near as vigorously as Sodium.FriedBrain - 23-8-2015 at 20:36
Yous used vegetable oil?! Then this clumps should be no sodium any more, since vegetable oil is a glycerine ester of fatty acids, which of cause react
under this highly alkaline conditions. You should get mineral oil in every home depot, check the MSDS for the contents and make sure it has a high
boiling point and contains most saturated hydrocarbons.
The clumps are maybe just magnesium(hydr)oxides and various other byproducts clumping together, but non the less be careful because the sodium could
be just surrounded by a thick layer of various salts.
