Many of us gained our first appreciation for chemistry upon witnessing a high school teacher drop a chunk of sodium into a beakerful of water. You may think you know the explanation behind the ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

When a chunk of alkali metal gets tossed into water, it explodes. But when a team of scientists gently placed a liquid drop of a sodium-potassium alloy on top of a water surface, they observed a ...

We teamed up with Cody's Lab to cut pure sodium metal. The sodium reacts explosively with water, creating fireballs and highlighting our adventurous approach to science experiments. Topics covered inc ...

Note: DON’T try this experiment at home. Our toilets put up with a lot, they deserve better than to be blown apart. Everybody’s probably familiar with the colloquial phrase “praying to the porcelain ...

A high school friend once related the story about how his father, a chemist for an environmental waste concern, disposed of a problematic quantity of metallic sodium by dumping it into one of the more ...

The golden metallic water layer on a sodium-potassium alloy drop. Courtesy: Phil Mason A metallic water solution has been observed in the laboratory for the first time thanks to a new method that ...

The reactivity series is a list that shows the order of reactivity of some common metals. Calcium (Ca) Reacts vigorously with strong heating. Brick red flame observed and white solid formed. 2Ca + O 2 ...

Researchers have discovered a low-energy way to recycle Teflon® by using mechanical motion and sodium metal. The process turns the notoriously durable plastic into sodium fluoride that can be reused ...

The reactivity series of metals is a chart listing metals in order of decreasing reactivity. In general, the more reactive a metal is, the more vigorously it reacts with other substances. We can ...