kmq

sodium nitrate, NaNO3, is an ionic compound with a melting point of about 320 degrees C and a decomposition temperature of about 380 degrees C. If I was to melt sodium nitrate to try to produce liquid sodium through electrolysis, would there be any poisonous gases produced from the electrolysis? I know that NO is poisonous and especially NO2. Would either of these be produced and are there any other hidden dangers (other than the fact that it produces sodium, which is rather unstable, and involves high temperatures)? If thats too dangerous, what about electrolysis of molten baking soda (NaHCO3)?

wait a minute i know that if you use salt as an electrolyte, oxygen doesnt form at the anode until after a bunch of chlorine has. and i know that if you use a copper anode to try to make copper oxide (also useable in thermite, I'm told), and put salt in the water, you get copper chloride (neat green color ), not copper oxide. Does chlorine bond in this way with iron, or just with copper? I would assume you wouldnt want any iron chloride crap in your thermite.

thanks for the replies, everyone. So contrary to what everyone has always told me, the green stuff you sometimes find on old pennies isnt actually rust? Also, if i replace the anode with a carbon rod (ie pencil core), then again use baking soda as an electrolyte and a 14 vdc power supply and after a day or so boil off all the water, will I be left with reasonably pure copper oxide, or will there be too many impuraties from the baking soda? (I'm thinking at least 90% pure copper oxide)

Actaully, its not. Try subspecies. For example, we are Homo sapiens sapiens. (yep, two "sapiens", not a typo). Homo sapiens died out thousands of years ago. (I know what I'm talking about, we just did this in global history)

no no, you wouldnt bring the minerals back to the surface, they are for space stations and moon bases

while doing electrolysis with copper electrodes and baking soda electrolyte to make copper oxide, it makes a slightly odd smell and burning the gas by putting a lighter above it makes a dark black smoke. also there are both green strands and black lumps formin in the water. im assuming that the green is copper oxide (what im after) but is the black stuff or gas dangerous? can anyone tell me what the gas is?

Does someone know of a way I can get my hands onto a bit of sodium (not literally of course ), either somewhere to buy it or detailed instructions on how to isolate it (by electrolysis, etc...)? I'm not talking about 100 g to drop into a pool, more like 10 g to experiment with in small amounts at a time. Website links, anyone?

Hey, everyone. I was reading up on electrolysis of molten NaCl, but I didn't really wanna try it cause I don't want to mess with the chlorine gas (by the way, would chlorine really accumulate to toxic levels if I performed the electrolysis outdoors over a long period of time?). I figured that Potassium Nitrate, KNO3, should work if I wanted to create potassium intead of sodium, as I know that it has a reasonably low melting point (around 800 defrees F, I think), and I know that KNO3, dissolved in water, will become a K+ ion and a NO3- ion. Therefore, KNO3 should electrolyse into K and NO3, correct? Before I tried anything I just wanted to inquire from some of the more experienced/smarter chemists around about whether or not NO3 is poison (through inhalation), or whether it will become poison in side reactions or reactions with the atmosphere. Furthermore, I have read that when heated, KNO3 will decompose into KNO2 and O2. Is it still possible to electrolyse KNO2, and will that release NO2 (poisonous) in a high enough concentration to become hazardous? Of course I realize that this process would be inherently dangerous, from the high temperatures required and the production of potassium (which I know is highly reactive, don't get it wet, needs to be stored under kerosine, etc...). However, if I perform this experiment outdoors, over the course of several hours (wasting a whole lot of butane ) will any poisonous gasses build up in high enough concentrations to become dangerous (hopefully they will at least be less dangerous than chlorine)?