Burning Cesium Metal

A cesium ampoule with a small crack had to be destroyed to avoid uncontrolled reaction with air. The ampoule is smashed by a wooden stick from a safe distance

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Burning
• Cesium
• Metal
• Chemistry
• Elements
• astronomy

[mmjurczak]

Is the reaction spontaneous or was this due to the amount and/or formation of the peroxide? I know that in our lab we stored rubidium (for demos) under mineral oil... I wonder if cesium would survive that type of storage at least temporarily...

[smartelements]

@mmjurczak Yes it is absolutely spontaneous. Under mineral oil it can be stored but this will contaminate the material strongly.

[Pyrotecnican]

That's tragic! You should have gone to a University and asked if they could replace the ampoule in one of those argon filled rooms! (Can't remember what they're called..)

[smartelements]

There is no time to go anywhere. Its just a question of minutes and the ampoule would have burned without my hit. Anyway it was one of hundreds I own, so its less tragic :-)

[smartelements]

Brainiacs used explosive to make the video. Cesium in water does not explode. Here you can see real Cesium burning. With water it isn't that interesting.

[smartelements]

@Cesium055 No it does not react that much. It turns black immediately and melts.

[xbehemothx]

@xbehemothx nvm just saw the text at beggining

[xbehemothx]

@smartelements what ammount of cesium was in there if you can remember lol

[Frresh123]

i have a question how much costs only cesium metal (without any ampoule) per gram ?

[Pyrotecnican]

I realized that after a while...

BTW It was me that tried to order that little 50mg cesium ampoule and i believe it was some tungsten some time ago, but my paypal freaked out, so we canceled the transaction... Problem not fixed yet... You got some nice samples! (Tragic anyway to burn off such a nice sample... Even with a crack in it..)

Next time, throw it into some mineral oil... That will keep it from reacting...

Nice video anyway... =P

[dragonridley]

I saw a video of cesium in water. It didn't explode with the force shown in Brainiac's video but it was powerful enough to break the beaker it was in.