Make Sodium Magnesium Oxide Aggregate - A Substitute for Sodium Metal

In this video we make sodium magnesium oxide aggregate. A useful substitute for sodium metal in most cases.

Doing this is very simple, we combine 30g of magnesium metal turnings or powder and 40g of sodium hydroxide in a metal container. The mixture is ignited with sparklers or a fuse and the container is covered with a heavy lid to protect it from air. The mixture will burn and generate hydrogen gas. What's produced is a mixture of sodium metal interspersed with magnesium oxide. While not pure sodium, it has much of the same reactivity and can be used for solvent drying in place of sodium.

Because the aggregate is highly reactive, even toward air, it is recommended to store the aggregate under an inert solvent like toluene or mineral oil.

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[NurdRage]

I'm taking my time to make sure the sodium extraction video comes out perfect, there are lots of variables i want to optimize first. So it likely won't be the next immediate video, but the video after. For certain i'll have sodium extraction released this month.

[alphapennsylvania]

What in the bloody hell was that demented laugh from hell.

[Tgernos]

nice video, i recently just began my Chemistry studium in switzerland

alway's great to see new stuff from your channel

[detritus]

I love these "mad scientist" types on here. God bless you for educating and entertaining at the self same time.

[snowdaysrule]

I gave this reaction a try tonight (but on a 1/3rd scale) and used a steel can and instead of a stone block as a lid I used a metal disk with a diameter a few mm smaller than the can that could be placed inside of the can directly on top of the reactants. The disk would be able to lift up slightly as the hydrogen blasted by and then lay flat again to keep oxygen off of things after the reaction was done. Instead of using sparklers as the ignighter I attached the steel can to a long pole using a metal coat hanger and as a heat source I held the can in the flames of a campfire we were having in the backyard. Heating everything in the fire got all the reactants heated up to reaction temp at the same time, so when the reaction kicked off the hydrogen flame that followed was really impressive! The reaction was over in a matter of seconds and everything was going great until it came time to get the hot metal can somewhere safe to cool down. I accidentally disturbed the metal disk for a few seconds allowing oxygen to get into the can and proceeded to see some bright orange glowing which to me was definitely not magnesium but sodium unfortunately. So I have a good feeling that I may have burned up all the sodium I worked so hard to make. Will update after some testing but am feeling pretty bummed for now :/

[frankium]

I've done this before and substituted KOH in place of NaOH. The hydrogen flamethrower is a beautiful shade of purple and the resulting MgO/K aggregate is quite explosive, it often detonates instantly on contact with water

[thesollylama]

Just did this reaction and it worked great. Really good yield but I had a good amount of unreacted magnesium powder left in the can. I had fine powder of both ingredients and mixed them well.
Still, excellent way to get sodium to toss into water for demonstrations.

Thank you Nurdrage.

[SpeederXL]

Very nice! Sodium isn't that hard to get - but the problem is to keep it away from the air. This seemed to work well (it's so quick that it doesn't have much time to react with the air, before cools down)

[ThePaintballgun]

You always put out the most helpful videos right when i need them...

[phaniemarie]

I always enjoy your videos but this one had me in stitches. Love to see some fun mixed in with education.

[a.a.g.]

Am I the only one who cracked up everytime the narrator goes to MWAHAHAHAA.

[AussieChemist]

That sounds the laugh from a crazy evil scientist, the same laugh I got when I made nitroglycerin ( by the way can it be used in birch reduction?)

[BurntFaceMan]

Looking forward to the next video.
Sodium is very useful interested to see the results.

[danxepha]

Been subscribed for a couple of years now and still don't know if he's a giant or not.

[gigglysamentz]

If I wanna do it, what precautions do I need ? :D
So big brick on can shielded with some bricks. Fire extinguisher nearby. Outside. In a lab coat. With specs on. And a camera.

[dexterrius]

nice, but what if you tried Na2O made from Na2CO3 by thermal decomposition? to use less magnesium...

[zxcvbob]

I came here from your other video where you extract and purify the sodium, but this seemed like a better place to ask this question. Will aluminum work instead of magnesium? Aluminum is much more easily attainable, and if I understood the part about enthalpy of formation, aluminum might even work better.
Thanks for a very interesting video series :)

[mazmirzakhani]

Love your videos mate great job!
got couple of question..when you say Aggregate is that mean different to actual chemical compound? do you know if I make a powder out of these does Aggregate would it dissolve (or Solute) in Diethelyn carbonate or Propylene carbonate organic solvent?
Thank you for your help

[thatplane]

You deserve more subs Dr. Lithium. Also is there a way to obtain crude indium metal from the oxide layer on phones?

[joeestes]

You should make a video on distillation of cesium!