Anders Hoveland

It is just nudity. What's the big deal? Children go running around nacked in other primitive cultures.

Neither political party has a monopoly on lying. But yeah, Romney is willing to say just about anything if he thinks it will get him elected. Republican voters are not happy with Romney, but that is what the Republican Party leaders pushed on their constituency. And now it's "Better Romney than Obama", the reasoning goes. If that link isn't a strawman, I don't know what is.

I do not see what is so wrong with this guy's beliefs. I think most of the members in this thread are just unable to look outside your own little intellectual world to understand beliefs that are different from your own. You accuse Republicans of being intolerant and close-minded. From some of the comments I have seen in this thread, I can't help but see the irony. While I believe in evolution, I don't go around ridiculing people just because they hold a religious belief that humans and dinosaurs co-existed. If some parents feel so strongly about creationism, what is the big deal about having the teacher quickly mention that "Some people believe that God created all the plants and animals in seven days" ? Are you afraid that your child might be "converted" by this?

In above picture, 6.12 g KOH (flakes), 3.12 g Mg, 50 ml Shellsol D70, and 1.02 g 2-methyl-2-butanol are being heated in a sand bath to 200 °C, such a reaction (conducted in the absence of oxygen) can produce globules of metallic potassium after 2 hours. I have been thinking about the possibility of reducing sodium hydroxide with aluminum foil. So a calculation of the expected enthalpy of formation of such a reaction may be helpful, to get some idea as to whether such a reaction would be expected to be favorable. The enthalpy of formation for Al2O3 is -1669.8 kJ/mol, while the value for Na2O is -414.2 kJ/mol. As Al2O3 contains 3 times as many oxygen atoms per mol, 3 times 414.2 equals 1242.6, which is still less than 1669.8, so aluminum has more affinity for oxygen than sodium. And indeed an exothermic thermite reaction between sodium hydroxide and aluminum powder can produce sodium. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=908rjHQ5mmc The enthalpy of formation for AlCl3 is -705.63 kJ/mol, while the value for NaCl is -411.12 kJ/mol. As 3 times 411.12 equals 1233.36, sodium has more affinity for chlorine than aluminum. And indeed, the reduction of aluminum chloride by elemental sodium was first done by H. Sainte-Claire Deville, although H. C. Ørsted had previously used potassium instead. But of course the interaction with the alcohol would affect the enthalpy of formation, increasing the affinity of sodium for oxygen. A quick estimation of this effect can be made by comparing the enthalpy of formation for sodium hydroxide, which is no doubt even more favorable than sodium alkoxides (sodium alkoxides vigorously hydrolyse with water). NaOH -425.93 kJ/mol H2O -285.83 kJ/mol Na2O is -414.2 kJ/mol So the hydration of sodium oxide to anhydrous sodium hydroxide should release 151.83 kJ for each mole of Na2O reacted. Na2O + H2O --> 2 NaOH So it can be inferred that the presence of tert-butanol would not significantly affect the affinity of sodium for oxygen, meaning that the reduction of a sodium alkoxide by aluminum should still be energetically favorable. The competing affinities between sodium and aluminum for fluorine apparently is more complicated:

I think this thread's title should be changed to "Yes, you CAN make Sodium!", since there exist several different routes to preparing the element sodium, without electric current, two of which have been the subject of much successful experimentation by amateur home chemists.

There are at least three other ways to make sodium metal, that do not involve electrolysis. Aluminum metal can actually reduce sodium hydroxide to sodium metal. Now I realise that many of you chemists will immediately say this is impossible, because "sodium is a more reactive element than aluminum", so here is a link showing pictures of the reaction, but with potassium being made from magnesium, instead of sodium from aluminum. http://sites.google....allic-potassium It also works if solid NaOH is ignited with Al powder in a metal container, and a lid placed over it to prevent reaction with air. The sodium cannot be obtained in a pure state by this method, however, as it is mixed with slag. But it is still charactaristically reactive with water. (6)NaOH + (4)Al --> (2)Al2O3 + (6)Na + (3)H2 but note that AlCl3 + (3)Na --> (3)NaCl + Al It is possible to prepare sodium metal by cautiously heating sodium azide in the absence of oxygen. (2)NaN3 --> (2)Na + (3)N2 Although lithium can burn in nitrogen, both sodium and potassium nitrides are very unstable. Sodium nitride decomposes into elemental sodium, giving off nitrogen gas, at only 87°C. Comparing the decomposition of other metal nitrides Similarly, the explosive decomposition of copper azide also results in the separation of the constituent elements, but this reaction happens for very different reasons. Cu(N3)2 --> Cu + (3)N2 But the same reaction with iron (which is dangerous) will result in iron nitride. (3)Fe(N3)2 --> Fe3N2 + (8)N2 The iron nitride can be decomposed to elemental iron and nitrogen gas above 800°C. Fe3N2 --> (3)Fe + N2 The decomposition of calcium azide is similar to that of iron. Ca(N3)2 decomposes above 110degC, explosively so over 140degC. The Ca3N2 that forms only decomposes at 1600degC, at which point the elemental calcium simultaneously vaporizes out with the nitrogen. Creative Way to Make Elemental Potassium? An idea for chemical preparation of elemental potassium, which does not require electric current. It would be impractical, but very creative. Not sure if all the reactions would work. Ca3N2 + (6)KCl --> (3)CaCl2 + (3)K2 + N2 Distilling calcium nitride with potassium chloride in with steel-walled distillation may cause potassium to boil out. This proposed reaction would make use of Le Chatelier's principle. Although potassium boils at 759°C, it is possible that molten potassium could be produced below this temperature. (6)CaCl2 + Ti3N4 --> (2)Ca3N2 + (3)TiCl4 The titanium nitride (m.p. 2930°C) would be crushed into a fine powder and distilled under intense heat with calcium chloride. Titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) is a liquid which boils at only 137 °C. (3)TiI4 + (16)NH3 --> Ti3N4 + (12)NH4I I think titanium tetraiodide (b.p. 377 °C) could be reacted with anhydrous ammonia gas to form titanium nitride and ammonium iodide. I am not sure if the NH3 could be bubbled into molten TiI4, or if the TiI4 would need to be in the vapor phase, with the intense heat required for the reaction. The reaction would be expected to procede because TiI4 is very acidic, and because the titanium-nitrogen bonds are stronger than titanium-iodide. Wikipedia claims that TiCl4 "with ammonia, titanium nitride is formed"; this is not surprising since TiCl4 reacts with water to form titanium dioxide and hydrogen chloride. Titanium tetraiodide melts at 150 °C. It can be prepared from easily obtainable materials: (3) TiO2 + (4) AlI3 --> (3)TiI4 + (2)Al2O3