Lab 1: Jumping Sodium

Maduwuba Ugochukwu
Section 009
September 14, 2016
Alex Hu
Christopher Cullison
Dr. Maxine Davis
Dr. Brittland DeKorver
Abstract
This lab demonstrated the reaction between an alkali metal and liquid water. There was a test
tube which water was placed in. The pH indicator was then added to show a change of pH. After
being shook vigorously, gasoline was placed within it. The gasoline instantly floated above the
water line and did not mix, because it is a nonpolar molecule while water is polar. Like
dissolves like according to solubility. Only polar solutions can be dissolved by other polar
solutions. Nonpolar solutions cannot dissolve in polar solutions. The salt was dropped into the
tube, and a reaction occurred only when it touched the water since an alkali metal cannot react

with the gasoline. Bubbles of hydrogen were formed every time the sodium touched the water.
Since the density of hydrogen is 0.000089 g/ml, it rose to the top. This caused the sodium to rise
as the bubbles of the hydrogen gas propelled it upward. Gasses envelop its container and expand
to the extremities of its container. If there was an opening, it would try to expand and escape. The
only way it could escape and expand was upward. As the sodium reacted with water, NaOH,
which is a base, was formed and was white but was dissolved into a colorless substance as the
reaction continued. The pH changed as the pH indicator showed that the color of water changed
to a purplish color. Purple indicates that there is a high pH. Furthermore, the test tube got hotter
as the sodium reacted with water. This is because an exothermic reaction occurred meaning heat
was given off. As the sodium warmed up, the reaction went faster and faster.
Introduction
In this experiment a test tube rack was used to hold a test tube. The clamp was firmly placed on
the tube to hold it in place. Gloves were used to protect the surface of the skin during the
experiment. The test tube was used hold the liquids. It was poured in with the use of a wash
bottle, or a bottle that holds a liquid and has a tube where it can be poured out when the bottle is
squeezed. A few drops of phenolphthalein was added from a small container of this pH indicator.
Gasoline was then poured in from a bottle of gasoline. A piece of sodium was also utilized. It
was dropped within the test tube after the water, pH indicator, and gasoline were added.
In this experiment, sodium reached the border between liquid water and gasoline. The sodium
reacted with liquid water to produce sodium hydroxide aqueous and hydrogen gas. The reaction
produced the following balanced equation:
2Na(s) + 2H2O(l) 2NaOH(aq) + H2(g)
Sodium is a group one alkali metal. Alkali metals are very reactive metals that have one electron
in their outer shell. They tend to lose that one electron in order to become a cation, a positively
charged ion. Density was utilized within this experiment. Gasoline is less dense than water so the
gasoline was at the top of the test tube and the water, which has a density of 1g/ml, was below it.
When the sodium was added, the sodium sunk because the density of the piece of sodium
(0.97g/ml) was more than the gasoline but less than water. Sodium seemed to have jumped
because it formed hydrogen gas bubbles with the water. The sodium jumped within the
gasoline while the water and the pH indicator added at the beginning of the experiment by the
name of phenolphthalein turned from being clear into a pink-purple color. This indicates a
change of pH. Sodium does not react with the gasoline. Sodium reacted vigorously with water to
make a reaction that was exothermic meaning heat was released. As the heat was released, the
sodium and the solution warmed up which caused the reaction to have gone faster.The reaction
produces jets of hydrogen gas which propelled the solid sodium around the surface. Hydrogen
was burning which rapidly increased the temperature. Through the analysis of chemistry and

how various elements and solutions react, the bonds and reactions that occur was apparent from
the experiment.
Procedure
Five milliliters of water was poured into a test tube. Next, one milliliter of a pH indicator by the
name of phenolphthalein was added into the water. The test tube was detached and a finger was
used to refrain from the contents within the test tube from spilling. It was then shook vigorously
in order to make the two liquids mix. The test tube was reattached and clamped. Seven milliliters
of gasoline was then added into the solution of phenolphthalein and water. Next, a piece of
sodium was dropped into the solution of gasoline, water, and phenolphthalein. The amount of
cycles and time it took for each cycle to occur was then recorded.
Observations
The sodium reacted with the liquid water and turned the water into a purplish color. Initially, the
solution was colorless, but after the sodium was added, the water turned purple in color and gas
bubbled formed and rose to the top of the solution. The sodium jumped in the gasoline liquid,
and the test tube was hot. The sodium jumped more slowly as time went on. The gasoline did not
change color. Water was the most dense substance within this experiment so it was at the bottom.
The water had a density of 1.0g/ml while the less dense gasoline had a density of 0.74 g/ml
which caused the gasoline to float above the water since it was less dense. The sodium had a
greater density than gasoline but less than water, so it sunk in the gasoline but floated above the
water. The hydrogen bubbles caused the sodium to float and the test tube heated up because the
reaction released heat. The average cycle length was found by adding all of the times in seconds
it took for the sodium to rise and fall back down to the water line completely (cycles) then
dividing the resulting number by the total number of cycles.

1.84+1.9+1.35+1.26+0.78+1.45+0.98+1.7+1.33+1.71+1.81+1.46+3.91+2.28+8.73+3.93+6.11+
2.5+2.66+2.6+2.35+3.28+1.0+4.0+2.18+3.15+4.25= 70.5 total seconds
27 total cycles
70.5 seconds/ 27 cycles= 2.61 seconds per cycle
The average cycle length was 2.61 seconds. Sodium jumped in the gasoline and only jumped
back up when it touched the water. Only then did it rise back up and bubbles were formed.

Discussion

Liquids of different densities will stack or otherwise not mix and solutions of opposite
polarities cannot mix. Density is a measure of the mass contained in a given unit of volume. In
layman's terms, it measures how tightly packed stuff are. Lighter liquids have less stuff packed in
them. Water has a density of 1.0g/ml while the gasoline had a density less than that which was
0.74g/ml. Gasoline and water are immiscible. Water is a polar molecule. The hydrogen side has a
positive charge while the oxygen side has a negative charge. Gasoline, on the other hand, is not
polar. The charge of gasoline is 0. Also hydrocarbons do not dissolve in water, because they are
polar compounds. The rule of solubility states that like dissolves like. Only a polar solvent can
be dissolved by another polar solvent. The same can be said for nonpolar solvents. Since water is
polar and gasoline nonpolar, they cannot mix or be dissolved in the other. The density keeps
gasoline on top and the polarities keep the two from mixing. In the experiment, the water was at
the bottom. When gasoline was added, the gasoline was above the water line. Sodium will never
react with gasoline naturally. Salt reacted with water, because water is a polar molecule. When
the sodium was placed in the water, it formed a base of NaOH and hydrogen gas. Gasoline, on
the other hand, is not polar. There are no positive nor negative charges to react with the salt.
Sodium cannot give its electron to the gasoline. In the experiment, the sodium only reacted when
it touched water. In the gasoline, it simply floated. A white trail of NaOH was formed but was
further dissolved into a colorless solution.
Conclusion
In this experiment, sodium reacting with water produces a base of NaOH and hydrogen gas. The
reaction is an exothermic reaction that releases energy in the form of heat. The test tube got
hotter as the reaction went on. The sodium does not react with the gasoline, but a reaction only
occurred once the sodium touched the water. Bubbles formed when it touched the water and
hydrogen gas bubbles formed. The density of the water was greatest so it was at the bottom. The
gasoline had a smaller density than water, so it was above it. The hydrogen gas had the least
density of all of the liquids and the sodium, thus it tried to rise to the top. This propelled the
sodium upwards. The white substance that came from sodium reacting with the water was NaOH
but it was dissolved into a colorless substance as the reaction went on. The pH changed as
evident by the change of color of the water from colorless to purple.
References
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39-55
Fink, J.; Leibowitz, L.; Preface, Thermophysical Properties of Sodium, 1st edition, Argonne
National Laboratory, 1982
Silvestrelli P.L.; Parrinello M.; Water Molecule Dipole in the Gas and in the Liquid Phase, Aps
Physical Review Letters, 82, 1999
Cline, P.; Delfino, J.; Rao P.S.; Partitioning of aromatic constituents into water from gasoline and
other complex solvent mixtures, Environmental Science and Technology, 1991, 25, 914-920

A. Padilla, Jr., High Temperature Thermodynamic Properties of Sodium, HEDL-TME 77-27,

Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (February 1978)