6 ms·

Sodium's explosive secrets revealed

123 points by kachnuv_ocasek 12y ago

acadien 12y ago
So much good science going on here. Original experimental setup to turn a stochastic process into a repeatable one. Proper application of computational methods to study experimental results. Albeit I think I can see some problems with the AIMD work, it doesn't diminish the overall result. Really a fantastic piece of work.
- ananduri 12y ago
  I'm a theoretical chemistry phd student. I'm curious, how do you think the simulations could have been improved?
bitslayer 12y ago
So that's why too much sodium intake is bad for you. ;)
Osmium 12y ago
Nothing bad to say about the science, but the (casual? blasé?) wording of this really bothered me: > Jungwirth’s colleague Philip Mason was determined to find out what was really going on — despite the hazards. In one run, he removed his face shield to blow out a small fire, only to have a piece of metal go off in his face, scratching his cheek.
- robin_reala 12y ago
  You almost certainly don’t want to read ‘Things I Won’t Work With’ then: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/ http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with...
  - js2 12y ago
    Sand won't save you this time...
  - masklinn 12y ago
    TIWWW often mocks the blasé wording of this kind of reports or articles, the things you really don't want to read are the source texts. I very, very strongly recommend reading Ignition!, it is truly awesome (it's the source for "Sand won't save you this time" and the book would be well worth its weight in rare metals if it were still possible to find the thing in any other form than a PDF)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  That's pretty standard for many scientists.
  - Osmium 12y ago
    The point is that it shouldn't be. Removing personal protective equipment? The amount of people I know who've had very narrow escapes for completely unnecessary reasons... and yet people are still cavalier about it. I just don't understand.
settsu 12y ago
Incidentally, the news from Prague 70 years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Bombing_of_Prague http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Bombing_of_Prague
- settsu 12y ago
  No, I suppose you're right. That's not at all fascinating to consider...
  - settsu 12y ago
    We should just remain comfortably cocooned in our contextual containers.
    - scott_s 12y ago
      You're being downvoted because your comment has no relationship to the submission or the discussion.
      - settsu 12y ago
        Incorrect, but, ultimately, I don't give a fuck.
patzerhacker 12y ago
Phil Mason has a video about this research[1] on his YouTube channel. There are several others on there about intermediate results. [1] http://youtu.be/LmlAYnFF_s8 http://youtu.be/LmlAYnFF_s8
TheCraiggers 12y ago
> He wrote of how, as a boy, he and his friends bought a lump of sodium from the local chemicals supplier... Whenever I read stuff like I this, it saddens me just how much safety and common sense have eroded the spirit of scientific experimentation. These days, the most reactive chemical in a chemistry set is sodium bicarbonate.
- erroneousfunk 12y ago
  You can still purchase sodium from chemical suppliers, schools just aren't quite as relaxed about letting kids play with it. Even college students can get in trouble: http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N37/sodiumdrop.html http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N37/sodiumdrop.html I doubt throwing a chunk of sodium into the Charles really helped further "scientific experimentation" all that much... It did get a lot of beach cleanup volunteers injured, and caused significant property damage, though.
  - TheCraiggers 12y ago
    Perhaps "scientific experimentation" was a bit much. But still, I can easily imagine that incident kindling the yearning for knowledge in a young man, perhaps setting him on the path of being a scientist. At the very least, I think it's a somewhat safe bet it influenced his study of sodium later in life, and we did gain some knowledge from his studies. I am of course not saying every kid that plays with sodium will become interested in science, just that perhaps this one wouldn't have, otherwise.
    - erroneousfunk 12y ago
      Did you read the article? "That incident" was a frathouse at MIT dumping sodium into the river... If a kid gets into MIT, gets into a fraternity, and doesn't have some sort of scientific yearning kindled in him, I really don't think sodium in the Charles is going to do it.

123 points by kachnuv_ocasek 12y ago

So much good science going on here. Original experimental setup to turn a stochastic process into a repeatable one. Proper application of computational methods to study experimental results. Albeit I think I can see some problems with the AIMD work, it doesn't diminish the overall result. Really a fantastic piece of work.

ananduri 12y ago
I'm a theoretical chemistry phd student. I'm curious, how do you think the simulations could have been improved?

bitslayer 12y ago

So that's why too much sodium intake is bad for you. ;)

Osmium 12y ago

Nothing bad to say about the science, but the (casual? blasé?) wording of this really bothered me: > Jungwirth’s colleague Philip Mason was determined to find out what was really going on — despite the hazards. In one run, he removed his face shield to blow out a small fire, only to have a piece of metal go off in his face, scratching his cheek.

robin_reala 12y ago
You almost certainly don’t want to read ‘Things I Won’t Work With’ then: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/ http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with...
- js2 12y ago
  Sand won't save you this time...
- masklinn 12y ago
  TIWWW often mocks the blasé wording of this kind of reports or articles, the things you really don't want to read are the source texts. I very, very strongly recommend reading Ignition!, it is truly awesome (it's the source for "Sand won't save you this time" and the book would be well worth its weight in rare metals if it were still possible to find the thing in any other form than a PDF)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Florin_Andrei 12y ago
That's pretty standard for many scientists.
- Osmium 12y ago
  The point is that it shouldn't be. Removing personal protective equipment? The amount of people I know who've had very narrow escapes for completely unnecessary reasons... and yet people are still cavalier about it. I just don't understand.

settsu 12y ago

Incidentally, the news from Prague 70 years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Bombing_of_Prague http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Bombing_of_Prague

settsu 12y ago
No, I suppose you're right. That's not at all fascinating to consider...
- settsu 12y ago
  We should just remain comfortably cocooned in our contextual containers.
  - scott_s 12y ago
    You're being downvoted because your comment has no relationship to the submission or the discussion.
    - settsu 12y ago
      Incorrect, but, ultimately, I don't give a fuck.

patzerhacker 12y ago

Phil Mason has a video about this research[1] on his YouTube channel. There are several others on there about intermediate results. [1] http://youtu.be/LmlAYnFF_s8 http://youtu.be/LmlAYnFF_s8

TheCraiggers 12y ago

> He wrote of how, as a boy, he and his friends bought a lump of sodium from the local chemicals supplier... Whenever I read stuff like I this, it saddens me just how much safety and common sense have eroded the spirit of scientific experimentation. These days, the most reactive chemical in a chemistry set is sodium bicarbonate.

erroneousfunk 12y ago
You can still purchase sodium from chemical suppliers, schools just aren't quite as relaxed about letting kids play with it. Even college students can get in trouble: http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N37/sodiumdrop.html http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N37/sodiumdrop.html I doubt throwing a chunk of sodium into the Charles really helped further "scientific experimentation" all that much... It did get a lot of beach cleanup volunteers injured, and caused significant property damage, though.
- TheCraiggers 12y ago
  Perhaps "scientific experimentation" was a bit much. But still, I can easily imagine that incident kindling the yearning for knowledge in a young man, perhaps setting him on the path of being a scientist. At the very least, I think it's a somewhat safe bet it influenced his study of sodium later in life, and we did gain some knowledge from his studies. I am of course not saying every kid that plays with sodium will become interested in science, just that perhaps this one wouldn't have, otherwise.
  - erroneousfunk 12y ago
    Did you read the article? "That incident" was a frathouse at MIT dumping sodium into the river... If a kid gets into MIT, gets into a fraternity, and doesn't have some sort of scientific yearning kindled in him, I really don't think sodium in the Charles is going to do it.