Comments on: Ka-Boom! Science! COOL!!?!

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By: MarkW

MarkW — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:49:06 +0000

Joe, the problem I have with Brainiac is its dishonesty. The caesium in the bath failed to create the explosion they wanted. A more scientific approach would have been to explain WHY it failed, and then said “well, we’re going to blow the bath up anyway”.

Have you ever seen Mythbusters? It’s a very similar idea for a programme, but takes a far more honest approach with their failures. And yet they still blow things up

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:50:37 +0000

I think its a shame that you are all putting brainiac down. While i can see that it is quite objectionable that the experiments shown on the show are fake, you have to remeber that this is a TELEVISION show. On how many episodes of the show “ready steady cook” do you think the chefs stayed within their alocated time limit to cook a meal? yet we would still call this real cooking. How many attempts do you think it takes for a blue peter presenter to make a mothers day card? Or even the other “science” progranmes on TV, do you really think all the experiments on these shows are one hundered percent honest? We have to take into account that while it takes depth from the programmes, Shows like brainiac must have to put on a show that has both impact and scientific background, and in this media frenzied society the impact must come first, however much of a shame this is.
Brainiac helps Young people (like me), to have acces to science outside of the classroom. I Know people who normally wouldnt give a damn about science really get into the subject, and even, god forbid, undertake in scientific discussion thanks to their new found knowledge and interest. Would all this be possible if the show had less of a “wow” factor? The obvious answer is no. So be mildly disappointed that you didnt get to see a real caesium and water reaction, but also be hopping with joy at sciences evolution into a subject which can be enjoyed by all.

By: smarshie

smarshie — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 08:14:46 +0000

Just a comment about the idea of putting alkali metals into concentrated hydrochloric acid: Colleagues of more experience than I (I’m a Chemistry teacher) tell me that potassium doesn’t particularly react with *concentrated* HCl. This is because the concentration of chloride ions in the acid is so high that it prevents the potassium chloride produced from dissolving (this is called the ‘common ion’ effect) so it coats the metal and protects it from reacting further. I guess the same might happen with rubidium and caesium. Dilute HCl would, I think work much better. Not that I have ever had the guts to try it out for myself….

By: Ben Goldacre

Ben Goldacre — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:37:47 +0000

you mean at 1m:52s in the clip?

it can’t be more than a few mm wide, that’s a pretty narrow hose, dude.

By: Elliott12345

Elliott12345 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:59:11 +0000

Actually, if you look better, the black “cord” is actually a hose that they used to fill the tub.

By: CDavis

CDavis — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:53:18 +0000

amoebic vodka said
[quote]We suspect the delay before the explosion might be due to the sodium breaking up after a bit, which would suddenly increase the surface area over which it can react with water [/quote]
Good point. It occurs to me that the increased reaction = increased heat + smaller pieces to heat = ignition temp.

I still wonder what’s burning in what, though.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:23:26 +0000

I enjoy the show Mythbusters a lot, primarily because they televise their failures and back-to-the-drawing-boards along with their successes. Seeing all that gives me more respect for the science involved.

By: amoebic vodka

amoebic vodka — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:55:06 +0000

We suspect the delay before the explosion might be due to the sodium breaking up after a bit, which would suddenly increase the surface area over which it can react with water.

By: CDavis

CDavis — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 15:01:15 +0000

I’ve had some thoughts about this sodium malarkey. Advance apologies for the following long-winded blethering:

o The Van Ryjn Device seems to have worked as well as it did primarily because the plasticine shell provided enough weight to keep the whole thing deep underwater until the ignition took place. At its extreme, bits of Na that would have fizzed merrily about on the surface if unconstrained, went kaboom instead.

o Part of this is counterintuitive: in commentary here and on the Sodium Party site, there’s talk of getting enough oxygen to the evolving Na + H to allow a proper fuel/air mixture. That makes perfect sense, of course: Hydrogen just squeaks if you ignite a pure lump of it, as (presumably) the oxygen battles upstream against the flame front.

But that really doesn’t appear to be what happened with the VRD bangs, though. The actual explosion always seemed to be coming from the area of the bomb, not the gas bubbles. Given the time delay (around 5-10 seconds) before the explosion, and the vigour of the outgassing, I wouldn’t expect there to be enough oxygen left to provide a 1:2 mixture.

Further, the intensity of the explosion seemed to be related to the depth of water to which the bomb sank. I suspect that the depth pressure was helping water to reach the sodium, by reducing the size of the H bubbles.

So I’m left wondering: is it possible that the oxygen is coming from somewhere other than the atmosphere? This sounds daft, but is there a way that – at the high temperatures being generated by the highly exothermic sodium/water reaction – hot water vapour is being cracked into something else that hydrogen can burn in? This can’t be H2 + O, of course, because that would take as much energy as the bang gives out.

I realise I’m talking crap here, but the fact is that these explosions – which as the Sodium Party guy pointed out only happen beyond some critical point – seem to work best when the atmosphere is *excluded* as much as possible, especially by full immersion. Something other than simple expelled hydrogen burning in atmosphere appears to be happening. Inorganic chemists – ten HUT!

By: rubbertruck

rubbertruck — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:43:44 +0000

Makes me glad I don’t have Sky.

Also reminds me of other disappointments in teenage pyrotechnics. Like the time a “friend” played a surprise game of “catch”, involving me and a bottle of crystalline picric acid.

Never one to catch a moving object with any aplomb, I didn’t disappoint him, as the bottle bounced off the concrete at my feet, as I flailed about like the games no-hoper that I am. And what happened? Nothing, nada, bugger all. Maybe thay just made bottles tough at the fag-end of the 80’s… Another myth exploded (or not).

By: jimyojimbo

jimyojimbo — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:43:29 +0000

Awww bless. It was really funny to watch Tickle-Man describe his capsule of Caesium as the “Emperor of alkali metals” and “a depth charge in a bathtub” whilst waving it under the dwarf’s nose using the same grabby-mechanism my dear old grandma uses to pick up the telly remote. Says Sam Gamgee, “Right, I’m off!”

Alright there, little guy. Careful as you go! Go hide behind that shop dummy, and you, mate, get in that caravan.

All of this is so underwhelming comapred to my gnomish A-Level chemistry teacher pinging bits of sodium into a sink of water whilst crying, “yeah man, groovy!”

By: spectator

spectator — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:42:11 +0000

The ’60s certainly were the Golden Age for sodium bombs – here’s my story…
Me and my best mate were fairly typical disaffected inmates incarcerated in a boarding school (cf If…). We preferred alternative chemistry. One day he smuggled a pellet of sodium out of the labs, wrapped it in his oil soaked hanky and put it in his trouser pocket. At lunch someone spilt a glass of water into his lap. The sight of him running the full length of the refectory, with steam issuing form his trouser pocket has remained with me to this day. He ran straight to the lavatory, panicked, and threw the hanky down the pan – this produced the same effect as the Van Ryjn device, a slow sizzling and then, oblivion for the porcelain pedestal.

By: jonman

jonman — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:50:42 +0000

Brainiac not ‘good science’? Shock-horror!

I honestly feel that the best educational use of Brainiac would be to have science classes discuss and dissect the flaws in the experiments shown on the show. Still, to be fair, it’s not an entertaining science program, it’s a scientific entertainment program – what did we really expect – rigourious application of the scientific method.

By: Camp Freddie

Camp Freddie — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:22:37 +0000

Erm, ethanol reacts with sodium to give sodium ethoxide – so I call shenanigans on this story.

In fact, people use ethanol as a safe way to wash sodium contaminated equipment. The reaction of ethanol with sodium is relatively slow, so you don’t risk fire/explosion.

If the report of an explosion is true, then it is likely to be ether in the jar that was washed.

By: boro_dave

boro_dave — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:41:24 +0000

Sockatume – you could be right about being ether, not ethanol. My memory’s not what it used to be!

Still produced a big bang, regardless of the solvent!

JQH – I’d still blame the technician, he was a bit old-school in terms of health and safety, i.e. H&S is for wimps.

By: sockatume

sockatume — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 08:25:49 +0000

He wouldn’t be storing the sodium under ethanol, he’d be storing ethanol with sodium (wire). It’s common practice for certain solvents, to keep them dry. Although I’ve not seen it done with ethanol before (ether’s the one I run into most).

By: JQH

JQH — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:37:59 +0000

boro_dave (post 27)

The stupidity you describe is not that of the technician who decided to wash out the bottle but that of the moron who chose to store sodium under ethanol instead of parafin and compounded the mistake by not changing the lable.

By: Andrew Clegg

Andrew Clegg — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:13:26 +0000

The only other time I’ve watched Brainiac, they tried to prove/disprove the folk wisdom about sneezes travelling at a hundred miles an hour… By getting someone to sneeze at a ping pong ball at point blank range, and measuring how fast the ball then rolled across the table. As if the law of conservation of momentum had been thrown out by the Court of Appeal.

Andrew.