Thread: Sodium

Hi i was wondering if it was at all possible to obtain pure sodium from table salt, and if so how? and practical storage ideas would be appreciated, thanks

u mean getting Na from NaCl?
i think u should solve the salt in water and use electrolyse or what ever its called in english. u´ll get Cl2 on the anode, and Na on the Cathode. but be sure using C cathode/anode

Hi i was wondering if it was at all possible to obtain pure sodium from table salt, and if so how? and practical storage ideas would be appreciated, thanks

You'd first have to dissolve or melt the NaCl, dissolving being the much easier route I'd guess. Then you'd have to perform electrolysis. Pure sodium is highly explosive when exposed to water, so it needs to be stored either in a vacuum or in something other than water... At my school my chemistry teacher had a big chunk of pure sodium and he kept it in a jar of kerosene i believe. just how you get it into the jar i don't know, unless it doesn't react with water vapor in the air to a dangerous extent. Sorry I can't really get into specifics, hope that helped though.

okey that was kinda wierd answer

may i ask why that was a weird answer?

cause ure first repeating what he said without quote and that makes the entire post look wierd

ah, got it, sorry. as long as the rest of the stuff made sense at least.

Originally Posted by Zelos

u mean getting Na from NaCl?
i think u should solve the salt in water and use electrolyse or what ever its called in english. u´ll get Cl2 on the anode, and Na on the Cathode. but be sure using C cathode/anode

This wouldn't work because any metallic sodium that you created at the cathode would be immediatly oxidized back to Na+ by the water as soon as it formed.

You have to electrolyze molten NaCl, which would probably be impossible without industrial equipment.

You would dissolve the NaCl in water then dip paper or use filter paper (a coffee filter would work fine) then you do electrolossys on the paper (when wet) or else you may burn the paper. Hope that helps. By the way, the sodium would immediatly be oxidized in air.

Originally Posted by Zelos

u mean getting Na from NaCl?
i think u should solve the salt in water and use electrolyse or what ever its called in english. u´ll get Cl2 on the anode, and Na on the Cathode. but be sure using C cathode/anode

Nope, does not work. Take a look at the potential differences between H+, O-, Na+ and Cl-.
All you do produce is Hydrogen and oxygen. The only practical way is electrolyze molten NaCl or NaCl dissolved in Pyridine.

Originally Posted by Zitterbewegung

Nope, does not work. Take a look at the potential differences between H+, O-, Na+ and Cl-.
All you do produce is Hydrogen and oxygen.

Hydrogen and chlorine gas, actually.

As several others have pointed out, you can't do it with an aqueous solution of NaCl. You need a Downs cell and a 700 degree furnace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downs_Cell

As for storage, most people store it submerged in oil to keep water away from it.