20,000 Pounds of Sodium Meets 20,000 Liters of Water
Posted by Derek C.F. Pegritz
Metallic sodium reacts violently with water—it literally burns when it gets wet. Most people who took highschool chemistry know this, and the slice-of-sodium-in-a-glass-of-water demonstration is usually everyone’s favorite. Now, take 20,000 pounds of metallic sodium and “dispose” of it by rolling it into a frozen lake. The result? Instant Massive Completely Bad-Assed Explosions. And neither Frank Darabont nor Michael Bay were involved!
Disposal of Sodium, 1947 [Google Video] : via FullyGeek.com.
Categories: Videos, Nature, Clips
Posted at 1:32 pm on November 1, 2007
4 Comments -
Woohoo!
I’ve always felt that there should be more explosions in educational videos.
Comment by Mike — November 1, 2007 @ 2:24 pm
at least they cared about the fish.
I don’t know what I wouldn’t give to see a recreation of that video in colour.
Comment by kimi — November 1, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Somewhere, Adam Savage has a hardon and does not know why.
Comment by CJ — November 1, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
Believe it or not, this is still done intentionally in order to raise the pH of acid-rain contaminated ponds. Just not usually lakes.
Comment by Dave — November 21, 2007 @ 11:30 am