Pending Review
Potassium or not potassium?
Ever the intrepid experimenter, I decided one day to produce potassium metal by the electrolysis of molten potassium chloride salt. I had a current source with carbon electrodes and proceeded to try and produce the elemental metal which, or so I thought, would appear as a silvery liquid on the surface of the molten salt. After considerable time and effort, no such metal appeared and the salt only appeared to be contaminated with carbon from the electrode. After the salt cooled, I decided to wash out the vessel that contained it. I put it in the sink and the moment the water hit the salt, our kitchen turned into something that would have come from a cartoon, with shooting stars, comets, and fireballs flying in every direction. Such was the intensity of this fireworks show that all I could do was to drop to the floor with my arms over my head and wait until it abated. When I could finally stand up again, I observed the kitchen curtains to be on fire and smoke so thick that I could not see the other end of the room. Naturally, I tended to the fire first, pounding it out, before I opened every door and window in the house to evacuate the smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, there stood my dear wife and children with that all-to-familiar look on their faces, wordlessly just shaking their heads. It seems that what I took for carbon dissolved in the salt was actually the potassium metal that I had sought. One must suffer for science.
Submitted on 01/25/2019
Submitted by:
Richard Nacamuli
Reference:
Personal Story