# Force of the reaction of sodium with water **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763 "2009-09-20T00:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![History\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@History\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Monk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/1 "2009-09-20T00:03:10Z")
How powerful is this reaction? I’ve heard it’s about the same as dynamite (assuming the same amount of sodium), but that seems like an exaggeration. Fight my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/2 "2009-09-20T00:07:47Z")
There is a Mythbusters episode that gives good examples of the Sodium water reaction. I think it’s the McGuyver special. here it is. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_XdOmShVhI) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/3 "2009-09-20T01:56:05Z")
My 8th grader science teacher tossed a hunk of sodium into a bucket of water with all of us standing around watching. It looked like a pack of matches being set off. Unimpressive. This is the same guy who taught us about an electric circuit by having all 30 of us hold hands in a chain, and he gave one guy on each end a live wire. We all got a big buzz for a second. If he did that today, he’d be the headliner on Nancy Grace. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/4 "2009-09-20T02:12:21Z")
There are oodles of demos on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/5 "2009-09-20T03:30:14Z")
[This is probably my favourite sodium & water video.](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3825610222960975525#) ---
**Author:** ![History\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@History\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Monk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/6 "2009-09-20T19:55:43Z")
Maybe it’s just as well it’s not up there with TNT. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/force-of-the-reaction-of-sodium-with-water/510763/7 "2009-09-20T21:31:47Z")
When I was in HS back in the dinosaur age, my hobby was chemistry, and I had an extensive lab. Back then I was able to buy almost any chemical via mail order. For example, I got some white phosphorus sticks that had to be kept under water for safety’s sake. I also bought a big chunk of metalic sodium that came in a container filled with kerosene. I could cut out little pieces to use in experiments. Outside of the kersosene, it was still dangerous if a drop of water touched it, or even if the humidity was too high, supposedly it could ignite. Anyhow, when I was about to graduate HS (I passed the Chemistry class without ever haviing to take the course), I still had about a half pound of the stuff left. I took the container down to a secluded spot on a nearby river. I crossed over the railroad trestle, and dropped the chunk of sodium into the river. Believe me, it was spectacular. It blew up with a satisfying boom and several little pieces skittered around on fire, reached the banks and started grass fires. I got the hell out of there quickly, as the grass was not dry and quickly burnt out, but I figured if caught, it would be hard to explain. Ah, those were the days. (I also made fulimanate of mercury, which us used in blasting caps and made a lovely explsion. I refrained from making nitroglycerin, although it is that that difficult to make.)