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chandz t1_j6f6412 wrote

Actually someone at my school stole a lump of sodium, oil cloth wrapped from chem stores. Was being looked for so he threw it down the toilet. Luckily it took a while for it to unwrap and he wasn't there when it blew the toilet apart.

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hatsuseno t1_j6fqalc wrote

Sodium is quite reactive, but not explosively so unless the entire reaction happens in a sealed container, not oil cloth. I call BS.

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SteveMcQwark t1_j6fubm0 wrote

Uh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsRiPOFLjk

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hatsuseno t1_j6fwnx6 wrote

Yeah, looks really impressive, but a pound is not a lump. Add to that that in order to create a shock wave sufficiently strong to shatter porcelain outright in an open bowl you need something that really detonates, not the deflagration of hydrogen in an oxygen atmosphere. And no, putting the lid down doesn't change this sufficiently to matter.

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SteveMcQwark t1_j6fwxrf wrote

You can absolutely blow up a toilet with sodium (videos of this exact thing exist on the internet). But yeah, if it's just a small piece, it probably won't happen.

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chandz t1_j6h94tx wrote

From what I remember it was the school master store so could have been a large lump, plus we also had other -iums so could bave been lithium. It was 30 years ago FFS. But i do remember the toilet was blown apart.

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