From Wikipedia:
Commercial production

Sodium was first produced commercially in 1855 by thermal reduction of sodium carbonate with carbon at 1100 °C, in what is known as the Deville process.[15] A process based on the reduction of sodium hydroxide was developed in 1886.[15]

Na2CO3 (liquid) + 2 C (solid) → 2 Na (vapor) + 3 CO (gas).

It is now produced commercially through the electrolysis of liquid sodium chloride, based on a process patented in 1924.[16][17] This is done in a Downs Cell in which the NaCl is mixed with calcium chloride to lower the melting point below 700 °C. As calcium is less electropositive than sodium, no calcium will be formed at the anode. This method is less expensive than the previous Castner process of electrolyzing sodium hydroxide.

Very pure sodium can be isolated by the thermal decomposition of sodium azide.[18]

Metallic sodium costs about 15 to 20 US cents per pound (US$0.30/kg to US$0.45/kg) in 1997 but reagent grade (ACS) sodium cost about US$35 per pound (US$75/kg) in 1990.

In other words electrolysis on molten NaCl will work, but it is impractical. Add CaCl2 to lower the melting point.

god i feel like nbk


You wish.

You wish.

Like you don't :p

Go buy some, jesus.
NaCL requires you to make molten NaCL (Which is hotter than a bunsen burns) And it creates Cl2 which will kill you and you will die horrible

NaOH won't work either, so don't even try that or i'll happy slap you.

You can't make it at home unless you have a chemistry lab lol

I'm not sorry that your fucking retarded.

A good portion of us here have messed with chlorine gas before and we didn't cough up our lungs yet.

Molten NaOH electrolysis does work and is generally the prefered method for amateur production as you don't have to worry about diverting and neutralizing chlorine gas.

GTFO.

A good portion of us here have messed with chlorine gas before and we didn't cough up our lungs yet.



Half of that statement is true in my case :p

making sodium and making pure sodium are two different things. I used a battery charger, two copper wires, and a hotplate to make sodium. However, it was sub-gram amounts that were only good for tossing into water (and showing off!). But it worked!

Same.

Its also in some petrol engine valves, they have a different shape than normal.
They might make a sloshing sound when shaken. Might have to be warm first.

Once you have found a valve, nick it with a grinder where it meets the stem & then bent & snap the stem off, wear glasses etc etc...

Oh yeah, forgot.
In the streetlights, the red ones on corners (MonoChromatic 50Watt LPS bulbs)
They have a long 'U' shape tube inside them, theres some Sodium in that.

Smash the outside bulb off & then heat up one end of the U tube a little so the Sodium melts & then let it all roll down to the other end.
Then snap that end off so its easy to get too.

Go buy some, jesus.
NaCL requires you to make molten NaCL (Which is hotter than a bunsen burns)

According to Wikipedia the melting point of NaCl is 801C. When CaCl2 is added the temperature drops to below 700C. A bunsen burner should be above this. I don't know accurate figures, but I guess 900 - 1000C. So it should melt under a bunsen burner.

According to Wikipedia the melting point of NaCl is 801C. When CaCl2 is added the temperature drops to below 700C. A bunsen burner should be above this. I don't know accurate figures, but I guess 900 - 1000C. So it should melt under a bunsen burner.

Trust me..... its not as easy as it sounds.

Trust me..... its not as easy as it sounds.

What happened when you tried it?

Trust me.....

That's not as easy as it sounds.

oww snap ...

No seriously, share some experience. This is one of those "mental masturbation" topics for pyros, where everybody' got an opinion and very few people have ever even attempted to actually do it.

When I did it it involved trying to balance a plant pot on top of a gas burner with white redhot shit splattering about me.
The fumes were pretty bad too.
I was doing it 1/2 inside & 1/2 outside my back door.
Trying to hold the two wires at the same times as keeping everything together wasn't easy & I wasn't sure if the wires were making proper contact.
I was using a welder which runs at about 50 Volts DC.

When the sodium actually came into existance it was sorts under the surface layer of molten sodium hydroxide, at the same time as that happened the stuff spat out small clouds of chlorine gas.
The big problem was that the electricity helps the hot/molten sodium hydroxide melt.
Once its melted around where the terminal is, where the sodium is going to come out of the salt, it starts making sodium, so everything now suddenly gets hot & spits out chlorine/sodium/heat/general fire like stuff.

At that point I was then trying to pull the two poles apart so the salt/sodium/chlorine wouldn't mix back together.
It was about then that I could see sodium metal under the molten salt.
Trying to get it out was a whole different matter as it reacted right there & then.
If the two poles got too far apart the reaction would die & I'd have to start again.
I think I was also trying to fuk around with the amperage settings on the welder too.

At that point I relised I had actually made metal Sodium & that was what I wanted to do anyway.
I have a box with everything just thrown back into it once it had cooled down.
Since then I have got some other stuff together, almost enough to start to make my own Downs cell.
Would rather play with a Oxy/Acetylene gas torch than what I had then.
There has been a few people who have actually made proper sodium on the net & posted it up, so I'd check that out before starting again.