Lighting a match with a single drop of water, sort of…
A break from audio related work – here’s a little video I made recently for the Ri Channel. It’s not exactly the most of significant of experiments, but when someone commented on a previous YouTube video asking whether it would be possible to ignite a match with a piece of Sodium and a single drop of water, we thought we should have a go.
The video was shot in a morning on a single Panasonic AG-HMC151, in the Royal Institution’s legendary prep room with demo Technician Andy Marmery.
Cool — does the pure sodium have any smell when burnt?
Hey Michael,
We didn’t really burn it over a flame, but it did give off a fairly acrid smell when it reacted with the water! – I guess this was Sodium Hydroxide gas?
-Ed