Onesiton
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Make sodium by carbothermal reduction?
Quote from wikipedia:
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Metallic sodium was first produced commercially in the late 19th century[47] by carbothermal reduction of sodium carbonate at 1100 °C, as the first
step of the Deville process for the production of aluminium:[48][49][50]
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How can I obtain sodium carbonate (from comercial bicarbonate) and do such carbothermal reduction at home (using domestic materials, not special
machines)?
[Edited on 9-8-2017 by Onesiton]
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Magpie
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Buy washing soda instead.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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elementcollector1
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For the first step, baking soda can be dehydrated in an oven at high temperature to yield sodium carbonate and water.
For the second, you'd presumably need an excess of carbon and a sealed container to do it in, as well as inordinately high temperatures (something
like 1000 C or higher), if I recall. There are several easier ways for the amateur to get their hands on sodium metal, if that is your goal.
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
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Onesiton
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I know that there are easier ways for make sodium, but these usually implies the use of magnesium (if I have magnesium, why make sodium?) or similar
more electropositive alkali metals.
What I want is to find a purely homemade way of making it, as if I was an alchemist without access to any of the more advanced materials (well, be an
amateur is basically the same)...
[Edited on 9-8-2017 by Onesiton]
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JJay
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Magnesium is easier to get than sodium. You can reach temperatures exceeding 1000 C over a Bunsen burner, but at such high temperatures, the sodium
will boil off, so you need a retort or something similar... possibly you could do it in quartz, but sodium carbonate attacks quartz at those
temperatures, so you'd probably be better off using iron.
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Cryolite.
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The problem with carbothermal reduction of sodium is that at the temperatures needed to make the reaction entropically favorable both sodium and the
carbon dioxide product are gases. These will then react in the gas phase to convert back to sodium carbonate and carbon. This is also why magnesium is
not made by carbothermal reduction-- it too will react in the vapor phase and destroy your product. Instead, for magnesium silicothermic reduction is
applied. The silicon dioxide is a solid at reaction temperatures, and it stays in the pot while the desired metal is boiled off. This may work for
sodium too, but I've not tried it.
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clearly_not_atara
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^^ ding ding ding
Magnesium is also not too hard to electrolyse; the chloride melts at 714 C, the bromide at 711 C, and the eutectic of these salts probably has an even
lower melting point. Also, magnesium is not more electropositive than sodium; it just forms a more stable crystal with oxygen.
I don't think that producing sodium gas is a practical option. I'm not sure how to condense that.
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JJay
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Carbothermal reduction of sodium produces carbon monoxide as a byproduct; that is the function of the carbon in the carbothermal reduction.
I'm guessing you could use an apparatus similar to those that some amateurs have used to produce phosphorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhFyVDBmDVk Obviously you would want to place the outlet in mineral oil or something of that nature rather than
water.
Cody of Cody's Lab has made videos on distilling alkali metals (for example, this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSJGwnERIVU). It doesn't look hard if you have the right equipment.
This experiment would produce carbon monoxide and have a high likelihood of a dangerous fire, so obviously it shouldn't be attempted without taking
appropriate precautions (fire safety protocols, talking it over with your policy representative, etc.).
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Foeskes
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I know this is kind of unrelated but I found a video on making sodium or potassium by the reduction of their hydroxide using aluminium. https://youtu.be/5JdPQucTjjg
Note video in in Russia.
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ave369
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You can get magnesium in bulk for cheap. There are lightweight industrial alloys that are mostly magnesium (many airplane parts, some car parts), and
if you know what to look for, you can get a lot of magnesium.
Smells like ammonia....
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zed
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Yup! You can buy Magnesium for about 10 bucks a pound. Might even have an old Magnesium engine block, quietly corroding away, somewhere out on the
back forty. Sodium is more difficult to obtain. Sometimes you can buy Sodium, and sometimes...you cannot.
Now, you guys probably saw this video long ago, but for those that haven't been exposed.
NurdRage produces, Metallic Sodium, from home made ingredients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCrFFVVcPUI
Kudos!
[Edited on 20-8-2017 by zed]
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