For a change, I’m not on about my musical preferences. While glancing at Scaryduck‘s blog today, I noticed a bit about “Sodium rading”. Basically, you get some of the aforementioned heavy metal and race two bits along little dribbles of water on a desk.
This reminded me of a story told by my A-level chemistry teacher, who’s name I forget. Which is kind of good because he was **** and I’d only tell you what a **** he was.
As you may or may not be aware, Sodium (and Lithium and Potassium and Rubidium… pretty much all the Group I metals) react fairly well with water. Put a small amount of Lithium in and it fizzes. Sodium’s a bit more explosive. By the time you’re dropping peanut-sized lumps of Caesium into a 6 foot fishtank, you’re blowing the sides out.
The chemical lab stores at a school have a “use by” date on such chemicals, and they’re normally in jars of oil. The council provided a service whereby they’d collect unused chemicals and dispose of them safely. Now, in small quantities, you can dissolve Sodium and Lithium (the only ones we had – the “safer” ones) in water and then neutralise it and dispose of it safely.
Our head decided to save the school a few bob and, remembering the fact that they dissolved, offered to do it himself. He popped into the labs on the way home, grabbed a couple of jars and tootled off home.
I can describe the arrival home in little chunks:
Open door. Greet wife who is cooking dinner.
Put briefcase down, get jars out.
Head upstairs to bathroom immediately above kitchen.
Open first jar.
Pour entire contents into loo.
Flush.
About halfway down the effluent pipe, the oil was all washed off and the Sodium came into contact with much water. *BOOM*
You may now picture his startled wife, stood in the kitchen holding a saucepan and covered in ****.
