Reaction Of Aluminium with Caustic Soda

[moron32]

I was searching for 'caustic soda' and found this...I use caustic soda and aluminum sulfate in my home water system.....should i have any concerns?

[TheSocialprestige]

I can see why the mafia uses this stuff to get rid of bodies- how easy is it acquire?

[laurdy]

@TheSocialprestige VERY easy

[TheSocialprestige]

@laurdy Do you think it's access should be limited? Given the injurious properties of it?

[itsmasonbaby]

whats the percentage of the caustic? i work with 50 percent and we add water to reduce the % which makes the caustic heat up and it gets really nasty...just out of couriosity, drano is about 2% caustic and you can make one hell of a pressure bomb with that, imagine 50% caustic!!!! whoa!!!

[7410n0]

what's the concentration of the NaOH?

[laurdy]

@7410n0 i'm not sure, i just kept disolving it in there until no more would desolve

[7410n0]

@laurdy Jesus Christ! That's a 27 molar solution assuming the temperature is 20C and it's fully saturated x.x

[neocon70]

this is how mexican drug cartels get rid of bodies. 

[jadejordan1]

flame in mid air

[brotherbear000]

we used to put drano (sodium hydroxide based) and aluminum foil balls in a coke bottle and cap it. it blows up like a dry ice bomb but it gets hot and i dont know if the resulting chemical is very healthy to blast all over the place...

[specioss]

torch!

[72EDELWEISS72]

fortunatly, we don't have the smell

[ajcrulz]

oo you got yourself a little bunsen burner :)

[AlexPanzerADT]

I use a special product called St. Moritz Well Done to clean my cookware. In the contents it says that there is a caustic soda inside. This spray cleans bake-in grim and oil residue very well from my cookware. Some of the cookware is made from aluminum but it always looks like new when I treat it with Well Done. Can I use regular caustic soda or maybe diluted to clean my cookware?

[olaus100]

nice

[Gemini123321]

i think it takes 24 hours to get an entire body dissolved

[masacatior]

2NaOH + 2Al + 2H2O ---> 2NaAlO2 + 3H2

[bdog7831]

whats caustic mean

[vmelkon]

@bdog7831 I think it means corrosive. i'm not sure.

[bluecollarcanuck]

@vmelkon It does, but it's basic, instead of acidic as it relates to the pH scale.

[hhhu323]

omfg!!! Terminator!!!! O_O

[soccerman1434]

Al + OH- -> Al(OH)3 + H2

[goomba45797]

nice to see a youtube chemist finally wearing gloves

[chriswereheer]

@goomba45797 well actualy when you work with Caustic Soda you're supposed to wear a full suit and a facesheild. I use it at work and even when you get sprayed with a dilluted solution can cause burns on the skin, like I currently have on my forearm

[blake983]

what is the byproduct left in the flask after the reaction?

[laurdy]

probarbly Na3AlO3

[madhugonadig]

@laurdy the by product is not Na3AIO3.......... it is Na3 Al2 O3

[R5H4D0W]

@laurdy 2Al + 2NaOH + 2H2O -> 2NaAlO2 + 3H2

:)

[Topazman12]

Hydrogen? Then this is good for your car.

[darksideofthebrick13]

INSTANT BLOWTORCH!

[seededsoul]

Wow, I googled this reaction, the gas coming out of there at high speed is hydrogen!(maybe some steam too due to heat). Be careful, this stuff is dangerous to breath or even make contact with your skin, and of course, is extremely flammable!

2Al(s) + 6NaOH(aq) → 3H2(g) + 2Na3AlO3(aq)

[Serostern]

@seededsoul No shit? The aluminium nicks the oxygen from the water and leaves the hydrogen.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

[seededsoul]

@Serostern ya well people on Youtube are gonna try this stuff without knowledge of the chemistry involved. I posted that for safety and educational purposes. I dunno why you're being a stuck-up ass about it.

[bestshuffle]

where to get caustic soda?

[laurdy]

B&Q

[bestshuffle]

What is that?

[laurdy]

a Do It Your Self Store

[compugeekmsn]

@bestshuffle Drain-o

[jonnyjones14]

haha lol we use this at work at a farm and i left some in a milk churn in water 90degC like 1 to 1 concentration and i came back like 5 mins later...... my boss wasn't impressed :| .......

[laurdy]

LOL!

[antiswattt]

there is potassium/sodium hydroxide in caustic soda... sooo.. (: i guess i can try that stuff myself

[jeanip24]

Caustic soda-->Sodium Hydroxide

Cuastic Potash--->Potassium Hydroxide

[antiswattt]

ya.. where do i get caustic potash? i only saw caustic soda.. and i live in denmark = no walmart

[jeanip24]

Well caustic soda is as powerful as caustic potash. unless you need caustic potash for the preperation of potassium compounds Caustic soda will do fine and caustic soda is also more soluble in water.

[antiswattt]

yup.. just need it for potassium NITRATE

[jeanip24]

Sodium Nitrate works well for smoke compositions but I wouldn't recommend for explosive mixtures as it is hygroscopic and I hear that it is not that strong

[jeanip24]

If you want you can buy Potassium Hydroxide from chemical supply stores [use the telephone book] (tell them you need for an electrolyte)

[antiswattt]

im 15, and i guess they will need my name, and thers some really bad shit in my name... i mean really..

[antiswattt]

i use nano3/kno3 ''kno3'' myself, works great for FP but ya it is hydroscopic i think its because that i use AN and then NAOH/KOH

[p0werpudel]

uhh, that looks save..:P

[Percy203]

Can someone please tell me what the difference between caustic soda and concentrated caustic soda is?

Is the concentrated more pure? Because i've brough some from B&Q and I need to know its purity percentage, whether its food grade, lab grade, or what. It has to be above 99% pure NaOH for my intended useage, but the bottle does not tell you.

[laurdy]

the stuff from B&Q is in granulated form and needs adding to a solution.

the solution here was made by disolving the granules in water until no more would disolve. i is probarbly about 95% pure.

i may be able to help you if you tell me what your intended useage is.

[Percy203]

GBL > Xyrem (GHB), as my prescription to treat my cataplexy is WAY too expensive at the moment, and I realised that its amazingly easy and cheap to make it yourself.

I cant find the data sheet for it. But I dont think I'll be using it, I'll try to get some food grade/lab grade stuff.

On B&Q's site I did notice that another brand of caustic soda they sell says its 99.9% pure NaOH. But it looks like a different one compared to the "concentrated caustic soda" I brought. So.... I dunno....

[laurdy]

this is probarbly not suitable because most caustic soda contains a trace of aluminium to stop people making drugs with it. i don't know where you can get it without the added aluminium trace or how to remove it.

it should be possible to make it by electrolysing a solution of salt and water but ths releases hydrogen AND chlorine gasses. chlorine is toxic and if the hydrogen reacts with the chlorine toxic hydrogen chloride is formed.

[laurdy]

Any mixtures of hydrogen and chlorine can explode upon exposure to light.

[Percy203]

thanks a lot thats very useful information, i'm gonna leave it until I can find food grade stuff. Which I am assured does exist, though finding it is not gonna be easy I'll wager....

[BilboReborn]

This is pretty cool. I've always had an interest in chemistry. Very unfortunate that I'm awful in it >_>

[penfolduk78]

what's the point of this?

[j822bosh]

LOL! After the second addition of Al, It was so exothermic that most of the vapor was steam! He could not ignite the hydrogen because of all the steam. Judging by the stociometry, the NaOH solution needs to be fairly dilute, like 5%. I want to make a H2 reactor as I have SEVERAL pounds of Coke and Pepsi cans.

[JohnnyTheChemist]

Lol it reacts like this:

2Al + 2NaOH + 8H2O --> 2Na[Al(OH)4] + 4H2

[rbneville]

what is being produced other than hydrogen

(in the liquid)

[laurdy]

I think it is someting like Aluminium Hydroxide

6NaOH + 2Al + 6H2O => 2Al(OH)3 + 6NaOH + 3H2

Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) acts as a catalyst

[Peter7Paul]

The reaction is actually:

2Al(s) + 6NaOH(aq) -> 3H2(g) + 2Na3AlO3(aq)

I've also found that lots, if not all, of the black color in the resulting solution is from impurities in the foil. Consumer Al foil is about 95% Al, if I remember correctly.

[TheFluorineMartyr]

That is the equation I've seen... Na3AlO3 should be hydrolised back into NaOH and Al2O3.

Presumably Na3AlO3 is soluble revealing pure Al to attack.

[megafeltch]

oh i heard if you get drain cleaner and put aluminium foil in it it becomes a powder thx for the quick response

[megafeltch]

is the aluminium powder reusable

[laurdy]

it was not aluminium powder it was crunched up foil and no it is not reuseable

[krishields]

Have you tried this with ferric chloride??

[laurdy]

once by accident in the kitchen while i was developing a printed circuit board

[TopaZProductions]

awesome

[blunklaura]

v. cool

[sharmuta155]

c00l