<p>Thats an awesome one; the key to good science teaching is blowing shit up on a regular basis.</p><p>First day of class for years I throw some elemental sodium in water, and it's a difficult reaction to predict; a 5L beaker exploding gets the attention not just of the class, but of the entire wing, and maybe the principal. Oops.</p><p>=</p><p>End of interesing part of post. Nerdy stuff below...</p><p>If you dont know the above, first, your science teachers were assholes, and should have shown you this, along with liquid nitrogen. Go punch them. Now.</p><p>elemental sodium is a metal you can cut with a plastic knife. It's so reactive it's stored in oil, as it will react violently with water. Na + H20 ---> H2 +NaOH + Heat. Meaning the sodium hits the water, starts producing sparks and hydrogen gas and it gets very hot, and sometimes the piece of sodium fizzles around, sparking and popping, and a big enough piece, or the right conditions, and there's sparks, and some flame, and them Boom, the thing explodes.</p><p>I shoulda videoed my demos.</p>
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