jdurg

Smart Elements is VERY expensive. I think I saw that they were charging about 530 U.S. Dollars for a one-ounce bar of palladium. That's almost 2.5 times the actual cost! The only thing I ever bought off of them was my cesium ampoule because they were offering it really cheap trying to get some business. Also, thank you for the input Raivo. With nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen it is very crucial to remember the expansion of the glass/electrode since those gases get really hot when they are 'excited'. I had completely forgotten about that. Thanks for the heads up. I'm pretty sure that there are sites online I can go to in order to get the electrodes I would need.

I've got a question about manufacturing those gas-discharge tubes which you can use to 'see' gasses. For my element collection, I picked up a set of tubes which were bent into the shapes of the symbols for the element they contain. (I bought them from Max Whitby a few years ago for my Noble Gas samples. They are INSANELY awesome looking). So while I have my noble gases in the form of a discharge tube, I don't have the same for my hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. I asked Max if he'd be able to custom build those tubes for me, and he declined saying that the heat given off by hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen was too risky. I do know that those gases give off a lot of heat when excited, but I never have my tubes on for more than a few seconds anyway, so the heat isn't too big of a problem. Therefore, I have decided to make the tubes myself. I decided to start with nitrogen since that's the easiest one to bend. I know that you have to bend it into the proper shape, then seal off one end with an electrode and pull a vaccuum from the other end. You then introduce a small amount of nitrogen gas and seal off the other end with an electrode. My question is, what is the electrode that you use? Could I simply just put a piece of wire in there and seal the glass around the wire, or are there special electrodes to use for these? I think this is something that could easily be done and result in a fantastic display for these three otherwise 'boring' gases. What are your thoughts?

Sadly, the only science interested women I have ever met were so hideously nasty that it would take a constant influx of ethanol to make them doable.

Well, all it takes is one 'explosive' encounter with a nice woman and BLAMMO, you have kids.

Well if it has an electron, then it's not a nucleus. HAHA! Successful nitpick!

Every 1.0x10^-7 moles of water per liter of water will dissociate into H+ and OH-.

Yes. (At least I believe so). In a peroxide bond, you have Something-O-O-SomethingElse. So there is a little more space for the oxygen atoms to exist. In a superoxide, you have Something-O-O-SameSomething, so depending on what that Something is, the bond angle and hence tension on the oxygen atoms is pretty tight. Therefore, the compound is more likely to decompose, and fairly violently too if given a chance. With the alkali metals, the existance of superoxides increases as you move further down the group since the atoms of the metals increase in size. Sodium can form superoxides, I think, but only with great difficulty. Potassium is able to form superoxides more easily, and rubidium/cesium readily form superoxides.

Thank you. It's remarkable how the top piece looks like platinum with its sheen. I think that happened when the hydroxide on the surface of the metal reacted with the cheap oil, thus saponifying it. This formed some soap and glycerin which adhered to the metal's surface thus keeping the shine. The soap is probably that yellow gunk on the edges. For the other piece, it's just strange. The reactivity of the metal sample didn't change at all, but it turned that funky color. I'm going to have to ask some friends of mine who work at a battery company. I know a couple of chemists there who work with alkali metals all the time. They may have an explanation for me.

If anyone wants to buy some bromine, here's a GREAT auction on E-Bay. Seems very reasonable for the amount offered, but I'd have a better storage solution handy for once it arrives. Good photos too of a great deal of bromine.

Okay. Under normal conditions, very little, if any iodine will be formed since the first step in the reaction is the formation of the IO- ion which then further reacts with the peroxide forming the I- ion again. So with just hydrogen peroxide and KI, the KI is only a catalyst. However, if the reaction medium is acidic, pure iodine is formed. I've heard that you really only need 1.0 molar sulfuric acid, though I believe that acetic acid would work as well. So maybe one should try dissolving some KI in some concentrated vinegar, and then adding some regular H2O2 to that.

Hmmm. I'll have to give that a test. I'll try and pick up some KI sometime soon and put some crystals of it into some H2O2. I know that it will cause the rapid decomposition of the peroxide into water and oxygen, but I'll try and see if the solution starts turning colors. If that does work, then it would be a fantastic way of producing iodine in the home. (Though I'm now starting to think that it's not that simple since if it was, people would have already known about it). Let's see what google has to say.

Here's a quick question. Would it be possible to take a solution of iodide ions and add hydrogen peroxide to it to oxidize the I- back to I2? If this could work with the store-bought 3% H2O2, that might wind up being a safer, easier method of manufacturing iodine.

Ahh yes. Marvelous how hydroiodic acid can oxidize its own ions into elemental iodine.

Chlorine gas is much denser than air, so it will tend to settle down to the ground and collect. So just having an open window won't do a heck of a lot unless you can set up some air currents which will direct the gas out to the open window. With all the chlorine that will be generated, there actually may be a concern with the hydrogen gas. If the hydrogen and chlorine gasses mix, the presence of light is enough to make it react and explode forming hydrogen chloride gas!

Well, I wouldn't be so sure about saying that there's 'no' bromine. Depending on the purity of the KI that was used, there's a very good chance that there would be some KBr contamination. The H2SO4 would undoubtably oxidzie the Br- into elemental bromine. So some of the red/brown/orange gas may have been bromine vapor.

Yeah. It really sounds like the sodium was contaminated with peroxides or superoxides. Those compounds are likely to decompose and accellerate the sodium's reaction with air. If it was a moist day then there would have been sufficient moisture in the air to help accellerate the decomposition. Under normal conditions, sodium will not spontaneously ignite. So there must have been some other contaminations in there.

No it won't. I've had ounces of sodium sitting out in the open air and all they did was corrode. No heat evolution at all. You'd have to have sodium sitting out in a sauna like atmosphere for it to start smoking and catch fire. If there's enough moisture in the air potassium may spontaneously ignite, but even that you can leave out in the open and just have to deal with it corroding and wasting away. It's rubidium and cesium that will start to smoke and ignite when exposed to normal atmospheric conditions.

Possibly some bromide contamination in your potassium iodide. Bromine is VERY volatile, much more so than iodine, so if any was generated it would quickly evaporate into the distinct, red/brown/orange vapor.

I've got a 5-10 gram ampoule of cesium. I can't really remember just how much it is. It's neat stuff. Literally liquid gold.

If you're worried about the iodide, just run a massive amount of chlorine gas through a solution of the salt. This will cause the KI to turn into KCl and I2. Then you just need to evaporate to dryness. The final step would be to spread the crystals out over a large surface area and heat it up a good deal. This will cause any remaining iodine to sublimate away leaving you with a pure KCl.

I always love the stories of incredibly stupid high-schoolers who try and steal sodium and potassium metal and just put it in their back pocket. A short while later their ass is on fire and they're suffering severe thermal and chemical burns. Or you have the idiots who think they can take a huge chunk of potassium and flush it down the toilet. lol.

What I find kind of fishy is how they say that electrolyzing a solution of NaCl and KCl will produce chlorates. I have trouble believing that. The electrolysis will really just produce hydrogen gas and chlorine gas. I'm not understanding how the chlorine atoms will just decide to pick up three oxygen atoms and form the chlorate ion.