today after school, i tried to make pure sodium by getting a large battery and attaching rolled up aluminum foil to the two terminals and putting the ends of the foil in a container of salt water. of course, this didn't create pure sodium at all. instead, according to wikipedia, it created hydrogen gas, chlorine gas, sodium hydroxide, and as i discovered after the submerged part of the aluminum connected to the positive terminal dissolved, Na3AlO3. after the reaction began to stop, i removed the aluminum. what is left now is a gray liquid beneath a clear liquid which im allowing to evaporate to see what happens.
i wanted to do the experiment again without using a metal that would react with the solution, so i attached galvanized nails to the ends of the aluminum foil rolls and put those in the salt water. however, this turned the salt water very dark with a dark green-brown film on the top that looks like algae and what looks like a gray liquid on the bottom. its hard to tell because its in a translucent plastic container. also, the nail attached to the positive terminal seems to be dissolving. the tip seems to be more dull and the submerged part has become darker, although something may just be depositing on the nail.
so does anyone know what is happening in the second experiment? im not sure what kind of metal is beneath the zinc on the nails. i would guess that all galvanized nails have the same metal beneath the zinc, but if not i can find the box and check.