Sodium Handling and Storage

Keep it submerged in kerosene. When working with it in air, keep the air as dry as possible, to the point of dessication. Don't breathe on it, or a hydroxide layer will form. Use a dehumidifier, with the humidistat at the maximum dry setting. DO NOT TOUCH IT IF YOU HAVE MOIST HANDS. It will immediately form sodium hydoxide (lye) which will burn the skin. Use dry gloves.

BernieK

very basically it must be stored under kerosene or similar product to exclude air and moisture to prevent oxidation and or fire. Use google to locate procedures and standards from American Chemical Society and others.

Thanks for the advice.One more issue is regarding transfering of sodium from one container to the other.

Please advice.

Dr.Sreenath

I need advice on transfering Na from one container to another.

Dr.Sreenath

I suggest that you access material handling safety data sheets, (MDS),
that should be available on request from the supplier or on the web.

In transferring from one oil-filled container to another take care not to
come in direct contact with the material and minimize its exposure to air
and moisture. - Move it as quickly as practicable without mishap.

Sodium is furiously reactive. - Take great care.

Good luck.

At school (in the days before safety) we simply placed the paraffin-filled containers next to each other and lifted the sodium across with tweezers. These days, you need to have read all the safety leaflets first.

If you don't have to handle sodium, I'd advise you not to bother. In any event, dropping Rubidium into water is even more spectacular (use a pond, and remove any wildlife first)

Fyz

Thanks for the advice.

You have mentioned about dropping of Rubidium into a water pond.Are mentioning this in connection with storage of Na.?.Can you please elaborate the procedure?.

Sreenath

This was what we did at school. Sodium fizzed nicely. Rubidium exploded. Our tutor only discovered what we were about when he heard the bang. The comment was more by way of being a warning to understand the specific risks before handling these chemicals. It is not a recommended procedure (other than possibly as a way of alerting the unwary to what you are dealing with, or demonstrating the relevance of the periodic table to chemical properties).

If you transfer sodium from one kerosene or oil filled contatiner to another, just do it quickly so the oil film protects the sodium from the moist air. It is always best to wear a lab apron and a face shield in case an accident occurs. Keep a bottle of viscous oil nearby to pour over the sodium in the event it is dropped on the lab table. Immediately pour a small quantity of the oil over the sodium to protect it from oxygen and whaterver water the air holds. Pick up the sodium as soon as possible with tongs and place it in the second container.

For experimentation with small quantities of sodium, cut a piece off using a stout spatuala in the main container, and immediately transfer it to a beaker, evaporating dish or (size permitting) to a Petri dish filled with enough kerosene to cover it. What you do beyond that point is dependent upon the nature of your experiment. Very small quantities of sodium may be used for classroom demonstration of the fact that soduim will "burn" in water to form the hydroxide. If you are trying to do an electrolytc experiment, be conizant of the fact that it may be possible to plate or otherwise deposit sodium from a non-aqueous solution, but NEVER from ANYTHING aqueous. When Tetra Ethyl Lead was popular it was synthesized electrolytically from a non aqueous solution, at a relative high voltage (necessary due to relative absence of ionically bonded electrolyte) since the electrolyte was not aqueous. That much I do know. What I don't know concerns the cooling arrangements used due to heat disspation consideration stemming from use of high voltages and relatively high currents. But if you intend doing anything of that nature with sodium, the same considerations would apply.

BernieK