Brainiac Alkali Metals

whether you have left school or

at school you can appreciate

the sheer fun mayhem that chemistry

can be there is so much to it

Bunsen Burners mixing chemicals

very nice

now you have been allowed to mix very small

amounts of lithium with water

you may if with a responsible adult

have mixed H2O with sodium

and you may under very strict scientific control have

witnessed potassium mixed with water

but the odds are that if you have

it will only ever have been on one of

those rubbish science videos

there you go mate a present

these next 2 are the dogs nuts of the periodic table

they are if you like the king and queen

of alkali metals

mix these babies with water

stand well back and watch the mayhem

and that is just what we are going to do

Mr Tickle bring on the Rubidium

here it is

is that it

well it might not look like much Richard

but it is a highly reactive metal

it is sealed in this glass tube

under argon atmosphere conditions just for safety

right so what's going to happen

when you drop that in the water

well imagine if you will letting

off a hand grenade in the bathtub

right-o I am off have that

good luck

OK Tickle

drop the Rubidium in the water

stand back everybody

this one is going to be bad

at 2 gms of Rubidium will only

react when our specially designed vile dissolves in the water

which gives John a few crucial seconds to get into our safety zone

yes

that is more like it

only on Brainiac do you get that kind of science

but I believe we can go one better

there is one more alkali metal we can legal use

yes Richard caesium the emperor of alkali metals

particularly nasty could go of at any time

and that is it

oh yes

brilliant I like it already

now what is that going to do

when it hits the water

imagine a death charge

in a bath tub

fair enough mate

I'll leave it to you good luck

thank you

ok John go for it

warning warning warning extreme danger

clear the area

as our caesium sinks in the water

the rapid generation of hydrogen gas should

produce quite an explosion

and it does

magnificent

and I think that concludes today's experiment

there is a should say one more even more reactive metal

francium but for some reason they wouldn't

lets have any of that

still today's lesson

never mix alkali metals with water