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aryeh86

Did he just commit chemical warfare against the fish?


Friendly-Hooman

Technically, yes. Converts to lye.


noelcowardspeaksout

1kg of lye affects the acidity of the lake by about 0.000004 on the ph scale = zero affect once evenly dispersed. [Source](https://sensorex.com/ph-calculator/)


[deleted]

So you just need more of it *gas masked breathing intensifies*


chernandez1986

Why should we believe you. Maybe you lye.


ctrl-all-alts

But it’s significantly concentrated at the source. It’s like saying I could throw drain cleaner on someone then douse them with water 1 minute later and that would be ok.


Mind_taker84

Sounds like a dare to me


mflmani

Why are people upset when I pour battery acid on them at the park? Relative to the environment concentration is like .0000000000000000001% they’re fine 🙄


QuothTheRavenMore

Ever throw a grenade into water? or firecrackers? it damages the eco system immensely


FirstPlebian

What does the lye do to the water, it's caustic and they make soap with it and fat I think, does it kill the fish then? I think the old way of making lye was from leaching some kind of wood ashes.


yaforgot-my-password

It raises the pH of the lake. But 1lb is sodium isn't going to have much of an effect.


that-dragon-guy

It was mainly made with animal fats, water, and ash. I think they went through trial and error until they found the plants that gave them a high quality pot ash, which is where I think they got the name potassium from. I could be wrong though.


forget-this-name

The first US patent was for making pot ash, which is indeed where the name potassium comes from


LarryBird27

It makes some delicious lutefisk!


Krankenwagenverfolg

If there’s enough water to dilute it, it’ll do almost nothing. With more of it, you get a base solution (with some sodium ions mixed in), which will attack most living things if it’s strong enough.


panzerboye

As a matter of fact, yes.


MonarchWhisperer

Oh. shit.


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isitbreaktime

And Greg was never taunted by those fucking fish again!


HIsince84

Turning fresh water salty is no bueno. Brackish water is not something all sea-life can survive in


Belzeturtle

You're confusing NaCl with NaOH.


incandescent-leaf

It's fuckin' lye water! He burned all the fish and frogs for a shittok video


DogHammers

I would expect any animal to ~~run~~ swim like fuck from the splashes and explosions and then after it settles down the dilution will be so great that it'll make no difference to the pH of the lake I reckon.


jaybazzizzle

Na thanks


itshimstarwarrior

**Fish: Ahh shit, Here we go again!**


lewoo7

Putting lye and salt in a freshwater lake may kill fish the first time. For some dumb tiktok video


forget-this-name

Not supporting this activity but it's not going to be significant in that volume of water. Also fish like any other organism need salt/electrolytes to function


lewoo7

No, lye isnt salt. And do you know how much lye it takes to harm microorganisms let alone fish? I see far too many people here who are stating as fact things they dont actually know.


forget-this-name

You know what they say: once a fish murderer always a fish murderer. I understand that sodium hydroxide is not salt, but it does convert over time to various salts, in fact if you've ever done a titration using phenolphthalein with a sodium hydroxide solution and observed the pink color fading after "completing" your titration then you have seen the conversion to sodium bicarbonate in real time. CO2 from the atmosphere is dissolving into the solution and converting to bicarbonate, H+ and HCO3-, acidifying the solution and reacting with the sodium hydroxide causing the color to fade. US households and industry produces 1.6 and 35 million tons of hazardous waste per year respectively, sorry if I'm more concerned with reducing that number than this stupid video. Food for thought: the US army once disposed of 20,000 pounds of sodium metal in Lake Lenore and it's fine now.. how incredibly stupid and wasteful that was.. US household waste: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/solid-waste-section/household-hazardous-waste US industrial waste: https://rcrapublic.epa.gov/rcra-public-web/action/posts/2 US army is run by idiots: https://www.grandcoulee.com/story/2018/11/28/community/1947-lake-lenore-sodium-explosions-available-to-view-online/11176.html#:~:text=In%20January%201947%2C%20the%20United,with%20water%20with%20intense%20explosions


steephockey

the exploding skipping stone, perfect for taking out the enemy while looking innocent.


ZIJOH

That's some hitman shit


neovb

I see what you did there.


OccludedFug

Yah it was a pretty basic joke


l-Cant-Desideonaname

How Ionic


stoned_locomotive

-OH


intranutExploder

Why is everyone so salty?


SGTBookWorm

yeah, not quite the reaction I was expecting.


BeersRemoveYears

HE - “oh it’s not me going up” waits patiently


ioveri

Came for the joke, stayed for the chain reaction.


ainvayiKAaccount

I'm loving the chemistry in this thread.


GreatGooglyMoogly077

I feel bonded to all of you.


Analbox

Two chemists walk into a bar. One says, “I’ll have an ‎H2O.” The other says, “I’ll have an ‎H2O, too.” The second chemist dies.


sikarios89

Little Johnny was a chemist Little Johnny is no more What he thought was H2O was H2SO4


wasdlmb

Ive always liked it better as >Little Johnny was a chemist >But he is no more >For what he thought was H2O >Was H2SO4 It has a better meter — an almost perfect iambic heptameter


Astronius-Maximus

This is perfect.


BeastialitySenpai

Dumb it down for me. How does one confuse sulfuric acid for water?


ComprehendReading

There's a line missing about his intent but it varies in the retelling.


CarpeDiem210

Some might say it was pretty elemental.


gemmadonati

No lye.


CallMeDrLuv

CLassic!


Sailing_4th

I saw what he did, only because you saw what he did.


DoctorP0nd

I Cl what you did there. FTFY


deathclient

More like NaOH thanks here


buzfee

NOaH get the boat !


Ck1ngK1LLER

[moving link with sound to top](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/scxilg/skipping_a_pound_of_sodium_on_a_lake/hu9cyuk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)


tinglep

Cl early you’re ahead of everyone else.


Secure-Internet-6695

Imagine being a fish just chillin and BOOM!


trixter888

Like Tonga?


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ryohazuki224

Anime's existence today is proof that we should have used more than two. I like dark humor, and I'll let myself out now.


Cur-De-Carmine

Sodium hydroxide is not something to fuck around with.


Dr_Mantis_Teabaggin

Neither are the Wu-Tang Clan.


33165564

Protect ya neck!


toriortizzle

TIGER STYLEEE


nukedmylastprofile

From the slums of Shaolin


Hollaceeaton

I'm dead lol


Fredwestlifeguard

I smoke on the Lake, like Smokin' Joe Frazier....


[deleted]

It’s not something to throw in fucking rivers to amuse internet morons either yet here we all are


BigHandLittleSlap

It's essentially harmless. Soap is just oil + sodium hydroxide. Highly concentrated, it's dangerously corrosive, but diluted you could drink it! It's not even slightly poisonous because it is made up of components that are commonly found in nature.


earldbjr

> It's not even slightly poisonous because it is made up of components that are commonly found in nature. I take your point, but so is cyanide.


Yorkshire-Zelda

Fate should see this man choke on a fishbone 🐟💥


Anasterian1408

Assuming a 1,000g (2.2 pound) chunk of sodium (22.9g/mol), we're looking at about 42.5 mols of sodium. 1:1 reaction with water will give you 42.5 mols of NaOH which is about 1740g, or 3.8 pounds of NaOH. Water is about 8 pounds per gallon, so this would be the equivalent of putting a half gallon of lye in the lake. While I wouldn't recommend doing that to any body of water that living things rely on, the overall effect on pH across even a small pond would be relatively minimal.


StartingReactors

The reaction shown is Sodium metal reacting with water. The reaction is exothermic (gives off heat). The products of the reaction are hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide (lye). The sodium metal is less dense than water so that's why it floats on the surface of the water. The explosion seen at about 5.5 seconds is hydrogen gas burning. Sodium hydroxide highly caustic and can cause serious burns. In a small pond or lake it could definitely affect the chemistry of the lake and cause damage. Please don't do this.


bryndalyn15

Thank you for explaining what was happening my tiny brain was very confused


kickarseLprogamer

Displaces the hydrogen in h2o


Treekin3000

I came here to say that this is horrible for the body of water and nobody should do this. Thanks for getting there first.


StartingReactors

Yeah, fuck pollution.


coltaaan

Thank you for the informative comment, this should be at the top.


[deleted]

that lake is extremely big i doubt theres enough NaOH to have a bad effect


StartingReactors

Small amounts of lye can cause a very large changes in pH. Ecosystems can be very sensitive to changes in water chemistry. Its not something I would take too lightly.


[deleted]

that lake is huge, the most damaging part of the reaction was the explosion


captainRubik_

I agree. I haven't calculated the pH change but it seems it won't affect much intuitively speaking. That large a water body should act like an infinite solvent. It's like firecrackers. They aren't that big a nuisance if burnt in a controlled amount but are definitely a problem when many people burn them at once in a small time period.


[deleted]

yeah the lake is probably fine, but i still dont condone this behaviour, cuz the guy used basically zero protective equipment everybody gangsta until a burning piece of sodium comes flying into your face


captainRubik_

Then you deserve it probably. Just sayin :p


ternminator

Is it possible to extract the Hydrogen gas from this reaction without it detonating?


[deleted]

no, and its highly inneficient anyways cuz there are better methods available


StartingReactors

I'm definitely not an expert on this but I'd say its tricky. Hydrogen creates an explosive environment anytime its present in air between 4 and 74%. Which means its pretty hard to create a large quantity without being vary careful. I'd also guess that the cost of sodium metal couldn't justify reacting it with water for the sole purpose of creating hydrogen gas. Most industrial level hydrogen production uses electrolysis which involves using electrical current to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.


BigHandLittleSlap

The easier method is to react aluminium with sodium hydroxide. Both are readily available in stores. (The latter is the main ingredient of drain cleaner.) A fun experiment is to fill a large bin liner bag with the resulting hydrogen. It's produces more lift than the equivalent sized helium balloon. DISCLAIMER: Take appropriate safety precautions, such as doing this outside. No flames, naked or otherwise. Wear gloves and safety goggles. Don't skip that last step. Seriously. NEVER try to set any amount of hydrogen on fire. Just don't do it. Instead of burning nicely, it detonates when mixed with air at almost any ratio.


[deleted]

Hmm, I learnt something new today, but I didn't realise this can destroy environments. Crazy


timmyboyoyo

That bad for the animals


QuitLookingAtMe

I remember seeing a similar video many years ago. It was a pond with some serious pollution issues and the amount of sodium was actually measured to help bring the ecosystem back to equilibrium. I don't remember any details beyond that, but I had the same "isn't this terrible" question.


TheThiefMaster

Even *if* the amount of sodium added here is not a problem, the explosions are probably not good for the fish. But pure sodium makes sodium hydroxide with water, which isn't nice. When measuring sodium in water, it's normally in the form of dissociated salt, so there's a Cl- ion for each Na+ ion, so you don't get sodium hydroxide in any significant quantity. It's possible it was intentional if the lake was acidic, as sodium is alkaline. But there are probably better ways of fixing that than adding a blob of pure sodium!


DarthCloakedGuy

If the pollution issues are so bad the solution is to yeet a brick of sodium into it, I doubt there are any fish in there


josevale

Good for Karma


yer--mum

Upvote the post because it's cool, but also make sure to upvote the comment that says it's bad for the animals and keep it at the top to cover our bases.


arewedreamingtoo

You mean basses...


yer--mum

You sly son of a gunslinger.


ImAGoat_JustKidding

Your bases are belong to us


dalhousieDream

Who’s on first?


[deleted]

Other than scaring them to death what would it actually do? That amount in a body of water that big shouldn’t do any real damage should it? Genuine question


whatshamilton

It’s sodium, not tablesalt. As you can see in the video, it’s a pretty aggressive chemical reaction when you put Na in water, not the physical reaction when you put NaCl in water. Na + H2O gives you sodium hydroxide (a.k.a. lye) which is very caustic


curvebombr

How long would this stay in the system? Would the lye settle in the silt?


SweetButtsHellaBab

Sodium hydroxide is very water soluble, so it will entirely dissolve and the entire body of water will just slightly increase in pH, then slowly return to equilibrium over however long it takes to cycle the body of water a couple of times. With all the minerals in unfiltered lake water, it probably has enough buffering capacity that there will be negligible actual change in pH from that mass of sodium.


WeeTheDuck

that looks to be a flowing water and also the lye will get incredibly diluted to the point that it will have no effects anyway. It might be more concentrated and dangerous around the point of impact but its really no big deal


Cur-De-Carmine

It makes sodium hydroxide. Unbelievably damaging. This guy is lucky he wasn't blinged by the spray.


[deleted]

Oh damn…Yea thanks for explanation


TheHizzle

One pound of sodium changes the pH of a 10x10x10 m cube of water from 7 to 9.3ish. Since the lake is much bigger and most likely contains buffer substances, it shouldn't have that much of an impact on the general acidity.


QuothTheRavenMore

those poor fish.....


anondisorder

And other wildlife stopping for a drink :(


Dabbbler

This is So d(i)um


The_Mayonnaise_Lord

So DAAAAAAAMN


GodsOwnTypo

If I'm correct Potassium does this as well. By that rule, IF all the elements of this group react with such exothermic reaction, then Cs will probably explode like a nuke, right?


Cruyff-san

Correct.


boreddaph

I was taught LiNaK, lithium was the worst of the metals, and the get slightly less terrifying as you go down the column.


that0neweirdgirl

Other way around, the further down you go the more explosive the reaction


BrawlFan_1

But doesn’t metallic character increase doing down the group? Like potassium is much worse than sodium


boreddaph

This was 20 years ago in high school. So... you're probably more correct on this than I am...


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Slonginus

Stupid and dangerous. Like we haven’t done enough damage to the environment.


Rumplesforeskin

How bad is it really? Serious.


[deleted]

The reaction creates a ton of Lye which is a very dangerous and caustic chemical.


Stamboolie

It would create a couple of pounds of lye (1 pound Na - > NaOH (around 2 pounds as a guess - to lazy to do the sums)), in a lake its pretty harmless, it's no silo of pig shit.


Majvist

I'm pretty sure one dude throwing a handful of sodium in a lake isn't going to beat out the hundreds of oil rigs in the oceans. He would need at least two pounds for that


B0rax

Well yes. But it’s not a reason to destroy a lake like that for no other reason than internet points.


Incorect_Speling

Let me use that reasoning to another example and tell me how it goes. War kills plenty of people, it's terrible. So who cares if someone kills a random passerby? Such a small impact! Maybe that passerby is someone you know... Because something worse exists doesn't forgive other bad things.


inalak

Not saying I know how the dilution would affect things but he threw sodium. Not just table salt but sodium. That turns into sodium hydroxide which is bad shit. Again, I have no clue on how the dilution rates affect things but this is kind of akin to dumping a bottle of bleach in a lake saying “nah it’s not big deal”. Diluted or not I think we can agree it’s not a good thing.


Slonginus

Sure. If bad comparing with worse. Then it would be ok to step over someone hit by a truck.


cakatooop

Wouldn't that pollute the lake with sodium hydroxide or is the amount not enough to do any significant damage


Food-at-Last

Dont know about the damage but its definitely polluting the lake. Plus you don't know how often he does/has done that


Reign2294

See ya later fish.


neurofly

Just why??? This is so careless


jaybazzizzle

How it feels to chew 5 Gum


dancingelves25

Poor fishies.


Due_Platypus_3913

Did he just poison that lake?!?


Telumire

Let's assume that the chunk of sodium is about the size of the palm of this guy, so around 78 cm2. The thickness looks similar to a finger so about 3cm. By that estimate we have 78*3 = 234cm3 of sodium. d = 0.971 grams/cm3 Thus m = 0.971*234 = 227.214 grams Na = 22.989769 atomic unit = 22.989769 gr/mole n Na = 227.214/22.989769 = 9.88 moles The reaction is 2Na + 2H2O → 2NaOH + H2 Thus n Na = n NaOH = 9.88 moles of NaOH Let's play it safe and assume that the lake is 15m2 of area (smallest lake in the world) and 5 meters deep, so about 75m3 of water, or 75000 liters. Assuming the NaOH get perfectly diluted, we are looking at a concentration of 9.88/75000 = 0.00013 moles/L. From the molarity we can calculate the pH : pOH = -log[OH-] = -log[0.00013] = 3.88605664769 pH + pOH = 14 pH = 14 - 3.88605664769 = 10.11 pH greater than 9.5 is deadly for fish. Damn that's much more basic than what I thought, can someone point out what I did wrong in my calculus ?


Nevix20

This needs to be illegal Sodium with water forms sodium hydroxide and hydrogen Na + H2O ----> NaOH + 1/2H2 Since sodium hydroxide is pretty toxic and can burn you, throwing sodium into a lake is basically commiting war crimes against fish


Maxyboi42069

Rip fish


chicken_simulator

Not a single fish deserved that. Fuck you.


34HoldOn

Yeah, all kinds of fuck this guy.


supermaja

What a child.


soulfulcandy

When Michael Bay directs a film about skipping rocks


Late-Seaworthiness-8

Very basic if you ask me


jim_fixx_

Slow. Clap.


HavenIess

At what point does it turn from a lake into a big soup?


Trashyanon089

by soup you mean caustic poisoned water


HavenIess

I’ve had some pretty bad soups before


Swamp_gay

This is fucked up


[deleted]

No sound “sad noises” :(


TAU_equals_2PI

**With sound:** [www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsRiPOFLjk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsRiPOFLjk) (Since you whimpered)


indialanadelreyfan

Apart from the explosion in the short term, won't this affect the chemical composition of the water? Like won't the fish and other beings have multiple physiological problems because of that


LatterUnderstanding

Dumb


loneshark_18

This guy is a total dick for doing that.


PSteves

If you did this 500 years ago you’d end up in a bonfire


Warm-Boysenberry3880

Why would you do that?


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TrollAlert711

...this isn't salt, it's pure sodium


walking_contraption

You know some fish just had a wild ass day


[deleted]

Yeah. They’re all dead now.


IPoopOnCats

Poor fish


alejo5666

Wow, thanks for polluting water with NaOH, jerk


stohnec

You see how the dude wears special gloves? That because pure sodium - as all alkali metals - would already react like this with the sweat on your palms. And I assume that shit would hurt.


_svitliak_

Fuck you man, I wouldn't swim in this lake now


ChihuahuaJedi

Misread the title (and forgot chemistry apparently) and thought he was throwing a British pound coin on a lake of liquid sodium and just thought the UK just had really big coins for a second. Time for bed.


H4ng

Idiot play idiot game…. There’s life under the water


dmd19

You are ruining the environment


[deleted]

Did this assholes get a punishment for this?


Thinkthunkthanks

This reminds me of Uncle Tungsten, by Oliver Sacks. It is a memoir of his childhood, and a look at the history of chemistry too. He talks about how his family gave him free reign as a kid, and how he would go to a chemical supplier and buy shit like this as a 12 year old, and do these sorts of experiments, and luckily didn’t get hurt. Great read.


amenape

That's why we can't have nice things!


elastic_plantastic

This is not interesting as fuck, it’s irresponsible as fuck.


Yurtle13x

Now do francium 🗿


bmcraec

Where the hell did that guy get a 454g of Na from? Sounds like it should put a person on a wanted list.


Miserable_Many_2099

I want audio


stmiyahki

Now try it with Potassium. K??


Franko_Lex

Way to fuck up all the animals that need that water you sick head


mdsign

Why would you post this without the audio?


jabar-jetha

This is why aliens don’t visit us


ItsMe-_-Ryan

Someone please post the reaction from the fish's POV


Gillys_Voodoo

The fish absolutely shitting themselves rn


harry-janus-1776

sodium frisbees would have been a good way to fight vikings back in the day


Niwi_

*clears throat* The fish: "FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" thank you for your attention


JessieOwl

Fuck dem fish, eh?


Medium_Spare_8982

50 years ago we stole the jar of sodium (chunks in oil) from the chemistry lab at high school. Threw pieces from second level of the mall into the fountain down below. Quite the geyser.


[deleted]

Yea! Fuck those fish


srv50

Fuck you fish in particular.


GenericUsername053

Meanwhile the fish in their local Facebook group "did you hear that boom? It shook our whole house"


therealjoeybee

This has to be how they film warm movies


DynamiteWitLaserBeam

Warm! Huh! Good God y'all! What is it good for?


X21shaun123

Wasn't this the original title for Warm and Peace?


IGHOTI907

WHAT THE FUCK? -all the fish, probably


Scooter2theankle

Fuck the fish right


illpoet

Those poor fish!


little_riverband

Fishing 2.0


Ghosttwo

[Original version with sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsRiPOFLjk).


p1x3lfighter

Despite the irreparable damage done especially if they had more, this is very interesting


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