Pouring Molten salt into Water  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 12:45:32 am
content: Some cool high speed photography.

author: ECEdesign
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 01:56:34 am
content: I saw this the other day its pretty cool

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 05:13:15 am
content: Really cool, but this guy is nuts. Molten salt explosions in shorts? It is amazing that he hasn't had his learning moment yet.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 07:04:33 am
content: Might also be because the molten salt is a very low viscosity liquid, so it breaks apart into small droplets very fast. You can see this in the high speed footage where individual gas bubbles are forming all the time as droplets penetrate the main gas body.

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 07:20:09 am
content: I reckon it explodes for the same reason why sodium explodes in water, as demonstrated by Thunderfoot.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2016, 10:15:02 pm
content: Quote from: CatalinaWOW on April 24, 2016, 05:13:15 amHe's from Florida, you'd be surprised at the sort of shenanigans that Floridaman can get into.

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 01:35:08 am
content: Quote from: AntiProtonBoy on April 24, 2016, 07:20:09 amThat would result in sodium hydroxide which would result in a basic solution, which he disproves. It would also result in the liberation of chlorine, which would be obvious, and does not occur. And that chemical reaction would be thermodynamically endothermic, requiring a lot of the available energy (if not all or more than all of it, would have to calculate that) to get the sodium and chlorine to unbond before the sodium became available to react with the water. It's not the sodium. It's a fairly amazing mechanical explosion where the salt seems to give up all it's heat at once, creating so much steam under so much pressure it actually appears to be a real detonation. It's very interesting.

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 03:12:18 am
content: Quote from: JoeN on April 25, 2016, 01:35:08 amThe latter point should indicate why the litmus test is flawed in the first place. The reaction created salty water which is pH neutral.The sodium in the salt probably underwent a coulomb explosion in the same way pure sodium does. The chlorine did not get liberated in the process an thus remained in the water, preventing the formation of a hydroxide solution. Hence the pH test fail.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 04:10:09 am
content: There is an electric potential associated with concentration gradients. While not as strong as the electrolytic potential from sodium metal (1.2V if limited by water, ~3V if not), it's nonetheless real and present (on the order of ~50mV).Perhaps molten NaCl is both fluid enough (I'd compare it favorably to the viscosity of room-temperature ethanol) and conductive enough (yes!) to be drawn through such a gradient.There might also be reactions with steam, though I find it hard making excuses: solubility is considerably lower (~none!) and there's nothing to retain superheated, pressurized water (at best, only a transient surface layer that quickly propagates away).Tim

author: boffin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 04:53:44 am
content: The guy is nuts.No safety equipment to speak of; let's his dog lie next to the experiment etc etc. I was almost scared to watch the whole thing.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 05:26:11 am
content: Quote from: CatalinaWOW on April 24, 2016, 05:13:15 amIt was mentioned in the discussion that they are "SAFETY SHORTS"!

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 07:21:26 am
content: When this video came out, I posted about it on Thunderf00t's youtube discussion page. It seems something right up his alley to investigate.

author: hayatepilot
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 01:59:05 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on April 25, 2016, 05:26:11 amLike Dave's "australian safety boots".

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 09:58:53 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on April 25, 2016, 05:26:11 amI have safety shorts for these types of experiments. They're brown. Just in case...

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 10:50:14 pm
content: Quote from: AntiProtonBoy on April 25, 2016, 03:12:18 amI'd like to see Thunderf00t's take on this, I believe alkali metals and Coulomb explosion is one of his expertise's

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 11:06:30 pm
content: Great vid! He just need to lose the shitty music!