Experiments For Isolating Alkali Metals | Sodium & Potassium - [Part 1] - NightHawkInLight

[@theCodyReeder]

So I've also tried electrolysis to make potassium but I seem to have gotten the same result as you. I was thinking of using a mercury cathode (similar to when I was making sodium hydroxide) to dissolve/protect the potassium metal as its being made and then distill off the mercury later. That of course would be super dangerous... Another thing I think you may be able to do is react sodium metal with molten potassium chloride; since the boiling point of potassium is lower the sodium would replace the potassium and the potassium would distill out. Also I think you need a tank of argon rather than mineral oil. Any way, looking forward to seeing how this goes, good luck!

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+Cody'sLab Seeding the cathode with a drop of mercury is a method that I've read will produce favorable results, but as you mentioned I'm not too keen on the safety/environmental aspect of boiling off the mercury later. As far as using sodium metal to produce potassium via reduction, I'm saving that as a last resort. There's bound to be losses going that route and I'd rather not have to expend the sodium which in itself is still slow going to make. It's also a goal of mine to determine methods that don't require a shielding gas as that adds one more non recoverable component to the process. I've been thinking over some methods that would limit exposure to air by other means. I'm hoping at least one of my many ideas will work before I have to resort to shield gas.

[@ibraheemsiddiqui8296]

+Cody'sLab Your vids are awesome!

[@theCodyReeder]

+NightHawkInLight Ok sounds good. I'll be watching :)

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+Cody'sLab Have you tried making sodium as well as potassium? Any luck there?

[@dangriff12]

+NightHawkInLight So you guys know your both awesome

[@Nighthawkinlight]

This video is a little different than my usual style. The dialogue is unscripted and I decided to focus primarily on the process of my experiments rather than the results. That being so, this video is a lot slower paced than usual. Let me know how you like it!

[@saikittang7450]

I think that green stuff might be ferrous hydroxide

[@rcawesome4123]

If you have seen thekingofrandom he uses lantern battery pices as a conducted I sound stupid I'm rushing g2g but would that work

[@EarlofDestruction]

I enjoy it.

[@saikittang7450]

+Rc Awesome ya I was thinking the same thing

[@lokilokilokilokilokilokiloki]

realy great Video !! hope too See more

[@drink15]

I think our process and results differ slightly. I used a steel pot and had to boil water in it over a burner. Just as the water started to boil, I added a pack of Ramon noodles. Let set for a few minutes. Drained the water and added flavoring. I was unable to product any Alkali Metals. I'll try again tomorrow.

[@DanHaiduc]

Your comment might be the reason this video was recommended to me under the "Cooking" topic

[@EugeneKhutoryansky]

Thanks for making these videos.

[@spiderjuice9874]

Probably someone else has already thought of what I am about to write, but... 1. Titanium and its oxide form a natural diode and this can make using it as electrode material a "bitch". 2. Apparently, nickel is impervious to molten NaOH (the Cr in steel reacts to give the green colour as you have shown). I suggest a nickel pot as the anode containing the molten NaOH with a dangling cathode made from either Ni or Cu. I've been looking for nickel pots, cups or tubes without success just for this purpose. I envisaged a small ladel with a hole in it to scoop out the Na (the molten NaOH is non-viscous and would drain out while molten Na is kind of viscous and would not drain if the hole is not too large). Hope you can get it working!

[@christhebirb]

This is science at its finest. I really like these kind of videos where we can watch you experimenting! Looking forward to part 2.

[@pixlo8]

I like seeing the experimental videos between the big releases, they offer some insight into how you build what you do, and the thought process you use.

[@markolazarevic4209]

This is best video for making sodium metal I have ever seen. You explained everything and u tried different methods. Keep doing this videos cause all of them are awesome.

[@snowdaysrule]

Wow I didn't actually think electrolysis of NaOH was a viable way of getting sodium metal. I was really impressed with how much you were able to collect! I just bought some calcium oxide on ebay; I'm hoping to attempt to make sodium metal just like you did with all steel apparatus, electricity, and NaOH, but I'm going to add CaO to the melt with the idea being that any water that is formed during the electrolysis will react with it rather than remain trapped in the melt and reacting with the sodium. Will report back with how it goes!

[@DEEPAKSINGH02041992]

You are awesome with supercool explanation and tricks. Never ever stop the experiments.

[@anton130ga1ntar]

How can somebody dislike this? This video is a TON of hard work!

[@liamblackmore6688]

Yes this is great you should do all your videos like this. Amazing!

[@DutchPhlogiston]

Great video, thanks! Brings back great memories of melting sodium hydroxide with a friend from highschool and our joy of seeing little balls of sodium form and float around. Never was able to recover any, though. On your comment about titanium: metals that form a protective oxide like titanium are a poor choice for anodes for most purposes because that oxide layer prevents the passage of current. They are said to 'passivate'. The way in which such metals are still sometimes used as anodes is as a substrate for a coating that is itself very resistant to oxidation without forming an oxide layer, such as platinum or lead dioxide. The great advantage in this case is that when the platinum (or other) coating fails in a small spot, the underlying titanium substrate will oxidise and passivate locally, but overall the anode will maintain its integrity and continue to work. This is a great advantage over other substrates (graphite, non-noble metals, etc), which rapidly erode and disintegrate if even a small hole exists or forms in the coating.

[@Strelkaful]

Hi there! Although some users already pointed out some correct aspects, I would like to summarize some ideas: - making electrolysis of such reactive metals in an open atmosphere environment doesn't work very well, precisely because of oxidation. - You could use, as Aayush already explained, graphite rods. You can get them pretty cheaply from an old 6V battery packs, which is also rich in zinc and also in manganese ;) - more joy to come! - You could use a brine solution (sodium chloride) to produce the electrolysis. Use two jars, with some alligator clips hanging from the bottom, and a small hole to create a valve (a piece of rubber tube with a clipper). Remember: the cathode will generate chloride, which can be efficiently and safely eliminated if you make it bubble in a concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide (thus generating sodium chloride). Also, in the anode, be aware that you'll generate hydrogen, which is also a plus - if you use a valve, hydrogen will slowly purge away all the air inside the jar, and hence, the oxidation problem can be overcome. Another way would be to make a burner (another small flask, with a hole on the bottom and a small vent on top, with water covering the bottom hole, where you'll plug a tube from the anode jar. This way, even if something goes wrong with the burner, there won't be any 'backflow' to the electrolytic system, and if you use a small flask for the burner, you minimize the risk of explosion. I would also suggest you to avoid a 'one-pot' electrolysis, and use a 'salt bridge' instead. Use some rubber tubing in a U-shape, prepare some gelatin, and add an electrolyte (for instance, sodium hydroxide) in it, place the liquid jelly inside the tube, let it solidify, and you get a nice salt bridge, which won't allow transfer of ions between both solutions, but allows electrical neutrality (it closes an electric circuit). It's a variation of a Danieli cell, but instead of creating electricity, we're creating electrolitical products instead.

[@Patchnote2.0]

This was a brilliant video, enjoyable to the eyes and entertaining. Fantastic work!

[@SciTechGeeked]

NightHawkInLight this is a pretty cool project and I liked the unscripted concept more. You are more talkative and nicer in this one! Thumbs up

[@andronclock1]

The last couple of weeks I have been trying the electrolysis method , and this video was very useful, great work !!

[@andronclock1]

also I think the reason for the reaction at 12:00 stopping was that the temperature got too high and the sodium started dissolving into the hydroxide.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+andronclock1 It's possible, but lowering the temp didn't seem to make much difference. It was at the same setting as when the reaction was working before.

[@andronclock1]

+NightHawkInLight Then I don't know what happened, but I have read that the black color of the hydroxide is due to the dissolved sodium.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+andronclock1 That could be. The color is also partly due to iron compounds that have eroded from the electrodes.

[@andronclock1]

+NightHawkInLight Yes probably, I have tried making potassium too once , and I couldn't see if I created any because the molten hydroxide was bubbling a lot , but after 10-20 seconds it made a small explosion( maybe due to some potassium that was generated?), which sent small bits of molten KOH everywhere, and I only had goggles on , so it splashed a bit ipon my face , but I washed it immediately with water so it didn't do much damage , I am going to buy a face shield before trying it again , if I get any results, I will tell you , good luck with your experimenting:)

[@zeusnitch]

Thanks for showing positive AND negative results

[@richardwright3352]

Good luck on your metal production. I find these kinds of bideos very interesting. Thankyou.

[@PyromediaOFFICIAL]

Hey Night, I've been kind of lurking for a year or so but I've been watching since the old firework videos, and I always look forward to watching your new videos. I always wished you could make more videos and still do, but keep up the good work!

[@MakeTestBattle]

What about doing the experiment in a bath of Argon gas? Like how in MIG welding it blows Argon over the welding point to stop the molten metal from oxidizing. Argon is heavier than Oxygen and Nitrogen so it might be possible to set this up in a large contain and slowly release argon into it. -Justin

[@Anzac97]

+Make.Test.Battle Thats what I was thinking, a heavy gas to displace the oxygen produced and that in the air.

[@dinkmcfudd3867]

Very intriguing video. Looking forward to the next one!!

[@0FG0]

Back to playing with fire and chemicals, just like in the good old days. Love the videos, interesting to watch

[@senorjp21]

Your voice is sounding a lot more natural. Sounds good! This is really great amateur science research. Thanks for including your unsuccessful outcomes as well as the home runs.

[@BruceAUlrich]

Fascinating! Much of this was over my head, but it was interesting to watch. I didn't know there was such a thing as sodium metal.

[@IAlexanderN]

Very nice videos! More pls

[@HuskyBlueFire]

I feel like you've changed the tempo and intonation of your narration, I like it, feels more friendly :)

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+HuskyBlueFire Usually I script my videos, in this one I was just talking normally without having planned what I was going to say.

[@saikittang7450]

+NightHawkInLight it seems more natural this way actually, I like it his way more

[@JEDiGamer007]

It was unscripted this time

[@RolandMcGruner]

this video is awesome, I love watching the experiments adapt and change, seeing you trying to improve and isolate different things, all while you explain what you're doing, intending, hoping etc - I think it's great! Really interesting, even though it's well beyond my understanding I still find it fascinating and captivating!

[@CamBox23]

This wasn't the normal videos but I liked it a lot cant wait to see what happens next and how... Good luck

[@jellyfishjelly1941]

You could try 316 or 330 stainless steel for a cathode and carbon for a anode. It worked for me with table salt before I got molten salt on my skin. BTW, welcome back, I missed your videos.

[@peilethan]

For the record, those bolts are zinc plated. When you tried using the ladle as the reaction vessel, you were seeing a reaction with chromium. Kitchen ware is most often made of high quality stainless steel, and chromium is one of the most abundant ingredients in those alloys.

[@TheChemistryShack]

The most likely reason that, during your first electrolysis attempt, gas was produced at the anode and the cathode is that there was some water in the NaOH. At the anode, the water and OH- would form oxygen, but at the cathode, H+ would be preferentially reduced instead of the sodium, so you would only produce H2 gas and no sodium metal. (I haven't finished the video yet, so apologies if you say this later in the video)

[@kurumi394]

You should do videos like this more often. After all, it is your KZbin channel, and I think you should have fun while making these videos and experiments. Plus, I really enjoyed this video.

[@johnashley2741]

Cool video man. I tried your original make sodium video and produced small weak amounts. It's cool to see a revamp. Also, be careful at 3:41 you said react and channel, the Fine Bros might sue...

[@findenichts6697]

fucking underrated comment

[@l4d2160]

I love this style. It's like a garage style NurdRage

[@ciatzo]

More of the long vids please! Really enjoyed it!

[@aidanboebel5895]

I really enjoy your videos please make them more frequently!

[@rasput1n6]

*Awesome and amazing. As always.* Im not a fan boy, but i think he just deserves that opinion.

[@FlameForFire]

I love this new style, i hope to see a lot more of it =D

[@TrollFaceTheMan]

Very cool! Soduim metal production via electrolysis is a video I had been wanting to do for awhile... Looks like you beat me to it! Can't wait to see what you come up with for potassuim metal!

[@TrollFaceTheMan]

Me or Nighthawk?

[@creativity5187]

You can use a membrane or separator in between the anode and cathode to limit the sodium's exposure to the water produced by keeping most of the water on one side of the reaction vessel. This might increase your yield of sodium significantly.

[@jonhoyles714]

amazing vid NHL love the chemistry keep them coming great job :)

[@johnmcdonald7644]

Reminds me of Cody's videos. Love it

[@TheHolyKnight932]

Excellent video! Oh, if you're still having difficulty using Potassium Hydroxide, ask KZbinr NurdRage on any advice and any solutions to your problem with the Potassium either reacting away or not forming at all.

[@Ariodan]

I always love your more scientific videos!

[@AltonMachineCom]

Keep the videos coming!! Very interesting.

[@vezzosetto]

You could try adding a small amount of isopropanol to the black sludge, it'll cause the small metal beads to coalesce and you should be able to recover a large billet of metal.

[@manifestevolution5743]

Have you tried filling the work space with an inert gas to limit the reaction of the potassium? I know that AvE does something similar using xenon when he attempts to melt titanium with an "arc furnace" of sorts. May be worth a try.

[@domvasta]

I got third degree burns trying to make an enclosed glass cell that went straight to NaK, I used a eutectic mix of sodium and potassium nitrates, hydroxides and calcium nitrate to get the melting point just above 300°C, it worked, but the anode corroded really quickly, it didn't eat through the thick glass tubing I used, but when I changed anodes to titanium, there was some grease or something on the electrode, I was refilling the salts, and as I was melting the mixture, bubbles usually formed, because of the air gaps between grains of salt, it was in an s-shaped glass tube, so the NaK would stay away from the air, and the gas from the anode wouldn't reach it. I had to heat it up to 500°C to start the salts melting, but it operated at just over 150°C. The bubble of air started coming out a lot quicker, then I realised it wasn't air when I saw the cathode side turn blue and a brown gas fill up the inside of the s bend, then the molten 500°C salt mix came flying out the anode end of the tube and the salts hit all over the webbing of my left hand. It took me about 5 seconds to process what happened, and I put everything down, turned off the current, quenched the reaction, removed the still partially molten eutectic, oxidising mix from my hand, ran it under cold water, and called for an ambulance. The doctors didn't know whether to treat it as a chemical burn or a thermal burn, I had to explain all the reaction kinetics to them, for them to understand that even at 500°C the heat is going to travel faster through my skin that molten ions can, since they produce gases and the liedenfrost effect probably protected me from the worst of it, the top layer of skin was crispy, the fatty layer underneath wasn't too damages, because there's not much of it in the webbing of the palm, they made me take calcium glucoronide despite me insisting there was no fluoride in the salt mix, and I mixed it myself, I would know. It only took about 2 months for me to heal, but I had to change bandages, go into the burn ward to get it debrided. They gave me silver fibre bandages and cream (which cost like $15/cm^2, the used bandages I kept and turned into silver acetylide, to show I hadn't learned my lesson). I mean, I won't mess around with molten salts unless they're in open vessels. And I'm wary of anything under pressure.

[@MichaudDaniel]

Very interesting for those who loves chemistry. Tres interessant pour ceux qui aime la chimie.

[@Bobsry16]

Argon gas as a partial atmosphere would make this easier like what Cody said! Thanks for posting science.

[@dryuhyr]

Also, there's a very good video on either nurdrage or Nile red's channel ( I can't remember which one) dealing with condensing and cleaning sodium and potassium by melting it under mineral oil. This may be a good way to consolidate those small beads you got from the previous reactions!

[@ckrp25]

Try using a graphite crucible (isomolded, not extruded) as your anode with a 1018 steel cathode in the center. The reaction is probably anode limited and will benefit from the greater surface area. Also, the salts you are using may be a little bit wet - maybe hold them a bit below their melting point for a couple hours to drive off as much water as possible before melting them.

[@zachblair9639]

I like it dog, it's what my friends and I always say when we're doing crap: "we should record this--it's better than the kardashians." And this is. Glad all is okay, got a little worried cause you're usually pretty consistent. Looking forward as always.

[@printffff]

if you still want to melt sodium chloride, you could add some calcium chloride to the mixture and melt that, it will bring the melting point of the mixture down by one to two hundred celsius. Also you won't have to deal with the super corrosive molten sodium hydroxide (it eats glass)

[@nunyabisnass1141]

Use powdered carbon like graphite as the flux instead of mineral oil during this type of electrolysis. You can also use a graphite crucible with graphite electrodes in an open top electric furnace. Your production problems on you last attempt likely had to do with some type of passivation layer forming on the anode. Since you cant just pause the production in the middle to service the electrodes, have a reverse polarity switch wired in to change the current direction when you see production slowing. This will loosen build up on either electrode. You can also try a quartz tube on the oxygen producing side around that electrode prevent it from recombining with the potassium in situ. So long as you pre-dry the KOH prior to melting, it should keep disolving the quartz to a minimum.

[@noobslayer7564]

This video was fantastic!

[@TheMasterThingMaker]

Now that you have a nice chunk of sodium metal, reacting it with a potassium salt might just work. Love the new style :) It's really nice to see the experimentation process behind some of your projects :P

[@rens2998]

these are some quality vids man

[@checkoutthatthing]

Awesome video my friend!

[@AsciaBipenne]

you should try doing that in a controlled enviroment, like a splitted pan, so that you can vent out the oxigen while keeping the sodium in an oxigen-free enviroment I think you can keep the anode and cathode in different compartments as long as the molten sodium hydroxide touches both

[@warywolfen]

By the way, titanium is very reactive at high temperature. It's used as a fuel in some pyrotechnic compositions, and requires argon shielding if it is welded.

[@blubber608]

if possible you should use graphite as your electrodes

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+tom williams I tried graphite electrodes with potassium hydroxide but haven't had any luck there so far.

[@JEDiGamer007]

+NightHawkInLight What about sodium hydroxide?

[@Ulim151]

+tom williams They wouldnt be able to sustain the heat.

[@DrRogla42]

+Ulim151 Graphite electrodes are currently the only known commercially available products that have the high levels of electrical conductivity and the capability of sustaining the high levels of heat generated in an electric arc furnace producing steel. I guess that heat is not the issue for potassium or sodium. :)

[@Ulim151]

***** They fall apart under the heat. Thats why MMO is used. There is a reason for people choosing expensive metal electrodes like platinum or manganeseoxide and cobaltoxide coated titanium over graphite. It will btw react with the hot NaOH to form CO2 btw. Graphite is cheap but its really bad.

[@juancamilozschommler5358]

Wow this video is perfect!!! I got allot of Ideas! Thank very much👌

[@intjonmiller]

A large quantity of what now? Didn't quite catch that at the end. Also I had forgotten how much I enjoyed chemistry in school. Thanks for a very cool video, especially showing the process of finding the right process, and not just a successful result. :)

[@Nighthawkinlight]

+Jon Miller NaK, a sodium potassium alloy.

[@thomaspinter8456]

+NightHawkInLight great video. keep it up. Long time no see lol

[@vileguile4]

Super interesting!!!!!!! Thanks for this!!!!

[@TheSpeedmcs3]

@nighthawkinlight- you should try hastelloy c22, for your cathode and annode. I work in the chemical industry, and that's what the industry uses for reaction vessel.

[@fontethefox]

ive just finished my chapter on ionic, covalent and metallic bonding. and this shiets awesome

[@Warhawk76]

I liked the style of the video just fine, it worked for the subject at hand.

[@jointaimbot55]

I like all of you'r videos I love learning

[@TheMeilinger]

Try using magnesium and potassium hydroxide in a high boiling organic solvent and add a tertiary alcohol as a catalyst

[@jamesthemlg]

Thank you, this is very educational.

[@origamigek]

Extremely awesome.

[@yang870602]

Hello.Will you make some more alkali metal isolating videos? Especially the potassium metal.

[@Memes-XD]

I have no idea what you were talking about, but i think that was cool

[@buddmcstudd6994]

Too cool. hard to grasp the concept but it's presented well.

[@buckstarchaser2376]

That was very interesting. I wonder if doing this in a vacuum would prevent the metal from reacting away. It would probably get the water out at least.

[@cphVlwYa]

Hey, I've been watching your videos for a long while now. I was initially drawn in by your original Negative Ion Generator project which I have since then replicated with a wireless relay circuit in place of the switch allowing me keep a remote in my pocket and the device in my cargo pocket. Anyway, you seemed a bit hesitant about releasing this video toward the start but just remember It's your channel and there always people like me who will always enjoy the content, so I'd say make videos purely for your enjoyment and keep up the awesome science :)

[@thatguy7738]

It's likely that the decrease in production towards the end stems from the lack of sodium ions in solution as the reaction goes on, remember the laws of conservation of mass. If you are removing elemental sodium precipitate from solution it would stand to reason that sodium hydroxide levels are decreasing, and thus need to be replenished every so often to maintain optimal sodium production.

[@Uranya7x]

I Love experiments, keep it, and thanks!

[@duppelG]

This is an awesome vid I'm going to try and do this experiment

[@julasxziom6386]

I'm using the improved method for collecting liquid sodium- the other outside small container is filled with hot motor oil. I pour this oil into alu pipe with plug that have small hole with tiny pipe (~ 3mm I.D.) at the end- it's connected to syringe. It protects the droplets of sodium from solidify inside pipe and oxidising. When the pipe cools down the solid sodium metal can be removed by piston etc. I think there is much better method for making sodium by electrolysis of molten salts (calcium and sodium chloride). But also there is problem with chlorine gas. I 'll try this in the future.

[@loganbyrom9185]

You might be able to use a nitrogen blanket with a high purge rate would maybe slow down the sodium from reacting with the oxygen.

[@vlad2717]

Try reacting NaHCO3 / KHCO3 with magnesium . The reaction should be slower as the heat is used to decompose NaHCO3 into CO2 and NaOH which will then react with the magnesium. Bicarbonate is also ceaper.

[@Meoiswa]

Have you considered using some inert heavy gas (Sulfur hexafluoride?) to isolate the reaction from air? Maybe that will allow you to collect a big drop of sodium at once

[@angelov1080]

Gotta see more !!!

[@Window_Hero]

Have you tried using graphite as a reaction vessel? You won't need to worry about it melting, and it may be slightly more resistance to corrosion.

[@TXCHRISZ06]

could you possibly use an argon reaction shield? run a flow of argon into the pot to act as a barrier between the sodium and the air? Also use drying media in the solution to draw away produced water?

[@photonthelatios7828]

The chromium oxide in the stainless steel is amphoteric and dissolves in the molten hydroxide to form sodium chromite. Regular steel is more resistant, but will still corrode rather quickly.

[@MsonRPL]

Fantastic, Love it

[@k-rodkev-dog7449]

Try doing the experiment in a large vacuum container. that might solve the air problem. and you should try and see if there are any reactions in which the sodium is a precipitate. Just throwing around ideas, I'm not even sure if there's a reaction where sodium is a precipitate

[@MegaFPVFlyer]

Fun fact: It was once proposed Nak could be used to cool nuclear reactors. It would increase power output tremendously, however it had to transfer its heat into water to run the turbines. If the heat exchanger failed, you'd have the mother of all alkali explosions. Then you'd have to worry about an uncooled, damaged reactor... that can't be flooded with water. Fun, right?

[@jessiebullock]

Insane! So cool.

[@josephmcdonnell7459]

you could try using a carbon terminal from a 6 volt lantern battery as a cathode to reduce corrosion.

[@sajansingh9854]

The reason you had to constantly remove the product, sodium, is because this is a reversible reaction, which reached equilibrium. Equilibrium is when the forward rate of reaction is equal to the reverse rate of the reaction. By removing the products, you are increasing the forward rate of the reaction and preventing it from reaching equilibrium.

[@AdrianO-cq5dk]

Awsome, wait for more :)

[@VisualBasic6]

loved the video !

[@Plastet]

i don´t understand a shit but i still like to wacth this

[@Plastet]

***** the chemistry part, like that sodium shit. I did understand that he was making some metal tho

[@ScienceShed1]

Great video!

[@ZaberAnsaryOfficial]

I always liked referring Potassium as Kalium. Although I managed to memorize Natrium for Sodium.