Good with Chemistry? Please Help!!

[aswedc]

Hey guys, my chemistry teacher gave us a extra credit assignment, and said we could use any resource except other students to help us solve it, so I decided to stop in here and see if anyone knows. In class on the first day we had a demonstration, where he mixed "water" (clear liquid) and "sugar" (small white cubes) like substances in a rusty can, which caused a chemical reaction. There was a plume of pink-orange-white flame about a foot high. When it was over the can was white on the sides and black on the bottom, and very hot. Does anyone know what the substances mixed were? Thanks alot to anyone that knows.

EDIT: I don't think I made it clear, it isn't really water and sugar, thats just what he called them, so he didn't have to tell us what they really were. The real names are what I need to find out

 

[gopunk]

i'm guessing sodium or phosperous

 

[Viper0329]

so it was small white cubes and a clear liquid that combusted when joined?

 

[Viper0329]

my guess could be sodium, but sodium combusts when it touches oxygen (right?). I know it will in water, just i was always taught if it comes in contact with air it combusts.

 

[aswedc]

Wow, quick responses! Viper0329, yes they looked like sugar and water, except the white blocks were bigger than household sugar

 

[gopunk]

viper, i don't think so, my chem prof talked about thowing a big ass chunk of sodium into a pond one time... leading me to guess it didn't combust in his hands.

 

[zzzz]

If you put sodium in water, it will most likely burn with a flame but it is very dangerous so I doubt that was it.
Also, were the small cubes stored under some other liquid or just exposed to air?

 

[aswedc]

gopunk:

<< i'm guessing sodium or phosperous >>

Sorry I'm not too familiar with chemicals and stuff yet, would the sodium and phosperous be the white stuff or the liquid?

 

[gopunk]

Sorry I'm not too familiar with chemicals and stuff yet, would the sodium and phosperous be the white stuff or the liquid?

the white stuff. well, silvery, but pretty whitish.

zzzz, are you sure? i always thought it exploded.

 

[aswedc]

zzzz:

<< If you put sodium in water, it will most likely burn with a flame but it is very dangerous so I doubt that was it.
Also, were the small cubes stored under some other liquid or just exposed to air? >>

The small cubes were just in a jar with a lid, presumably with air inside too. It might have been sodium in water, the demo wasn't just out in the open, it was in a special chamber with a fan for that sort of stuff. Thanks for such quick answers guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[Siva]

It sounds like an alkali metal in water, one of the metals in the first row of the periodic table. Cept they shouldn't look like sugar... they should be grayish

potassium maybe? I think cesium and rubidium are too strong, and sodium is too weak.

*cesium will explode, boom you dead kinda explode, its so cool*

 

[aswedc]

Also, gopunk, so you think the sodium and phosperous were just mixed with regular water?

 

[thaRealest]

Word of Warning:
The last time I posted a science question on this board, i got literally 40-50 responses. However, the majority of the answers received, though seemed correct and smartly put, they were wrong and filled with ludacris responses once I asked REAL knowledgeable people. Don't get taken and double check every answer you think is right. They got some sick bastards on this board who just want to take advantage... be cautious!

 

[aswedc]

Don't worry thaRealest, I'll just keep on telling these to my chem teacher until one of them turns out to be right I don't think you can only turn in one answer....and I think most people are trying to help...Thanks for the tip though.

 

[gopunk]

Also, gopunk, so you think the sodium and phosperous were just mixed with regular water?

well it's either one, not both. well i suppose it could be both, but not likely. yea i think regular water would do the trick. siva could be right too though, potassium could be it. there's a lot of possibilities. you might try listing them off instead of just giving one.

 

[gopunk]

thaRealist, what's your old moniker? i'm not sure if they have evil intentions as much as they're just uninformed.

 

[Siva]

if not for the description of the cubes, I'd be sure it was potassium or a similar metal. If it was water that he put it in, it is definately one of the alkali metals (first row of periodic table going down).

 

[DannyLove]

dont ask me, i failed my CHM lecture class, not once, but TWICE

I HATE SCIENCE, but i'm so damn intriged and interested with it!

danny~!

 

[aswedc]

DannyLove: same with me, somehow I managed to pull of a B in Biology I last year and got myself into honors chem. I think I'm going to need the extra credit points I'll get if I can answer this question!

 

[gopunk]

i got low 3.x grades in my chem classes. which is better than the average (2.5-2.8), but still pretty crappy in my estimation.

 

[aswedc]

Well I'm going to get off the local free ISP and back onto AOL now cause my time is up, which means I won't be post. I'll run all these by my chem teacher tomorrow and report back to the thread. Thanks to all that helped!

 

[linuxboy]

was there a smell afterward? Phosphorus would combust in air, sodium would react with water BUT the products would be sodium hydroxide and hydrogen. Sodium hydroxide dissolves in water but is white. As for the black stuff... I think iron hydroxide is yellow/orangish. Copper oxide is black and nonsoluable though.. Dunno. Been too long since I've had this crap.

 

[jamesave]

Definitely Sodium.

I remember my high school teacher put a paper on top of the water and place the sodium (Na) on top of the paper and begin to step back. The next sceonds, it goes kaboom.


Sodium is not a stable element. Indeed, they usually store it in a thick liquid (not sure what kind of liquid) just to make sure it doesn't have time to react with the moisture in the air.

 

[jamesave]

<< was there a smell afterward? Phosphorus would combust in air, sodium would react with water BUT the products would be sodium hydroxide and hydrogen. Sodium hydroxide dissolves in water but is white. As for the black stuff... I think iron hydroxide is yellow/orangish. Copper oxide is black and nonsoluable though.. Dunno. Been too long since I've had this crap. >>



Sodium hydroxide is not white.

 

[linuxboy]

out of solution and in solid form? I thought it was. U sure?