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Sodium is tricky too. It reacts violently to water. Even humidity in the air can make it explode.
by bill38 3y ago
Sodium is tricky too. It reacts violently to water. Even humidity in the air can make it explode.
- rini17 3y agoLithium is only a bit better, in practice it requires exactly the same precautions.
- pfdietz 3y agoThe lithium in Li-ion batteries is never in metallic form. I believe the sodium batteries being discussed here also leave the sodium in ionic form.
- rini17 3y agoThere are plenty of li-ion battery dismantling vids, with lithium clearly in metallic form.
- pfdietz 3y agoOr, you are seeing metallic electrodes or other current carrying connectors that are not made of lithium.
- vardump 3y agoPerhaps a result of overcharging lithium cells? That's known to cause metallic lithium plating, definitely not a normal or a desired state in a Li-ion cell.
- rini17 3y agoI have no idea. In any case the sodium chemistry is very similar.
- jillesvangurp 3y agoAs would be evidenced by kitchen salt exploding in your face when you use it. Oh wait. Not a thing.
- Sembiance 3y agoSodium and kitchen salt are not the same thing. https://youtu.be/CArZeDTwVh4?si=tdVHOPO-8QZhxrkS https://youtu.be/CArZeDTwVh4?si=tdVHOPO-8QZhxrkS
- jillesvangurp 3y agoSodium would be the Na part of Na Cl.
- bc_programming 3y agoRight, but water not being readily burnt is not evidence that hydrogen is inert.
- Kalium 3y agoYes. You are correct. Thankfully kitchen sodium is in compound form, and thus not likely to react violently with water. In this context, the properties of pure metallic sodium are relevant because it would need to be handled in manufacturing. Kitchen salt is more commonly mined or extracted, requiring minimal to no handling of pure metallic sodium. I hope this helps clarify any misunderstandings.
- Chabsff 3y agoAnd both of them contain a bunch of protons, yet neither, nor their combination, behave like loose protons (aka Hydrogen).
- stronglikedan 3y agoBut the Na has lost its electron to the Cl, so not the same thing.
- askvictor 3y ago
- vardump 3y agoMy understanding is that lithium ion batteries don’t use metallic lithium, but salts, like lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. Are sodium ion batteries somehow different? If so, how can they keep metallic sodium stable at all?