If you were to put chlorine and sodium separately and simultaneously in water, what would happen?

Question

Would the sodium explode while the chlorine dissolves in the water?

Would the chlorine and sodium mix to make table salt and dissolve in the water?

What would happen and why?

I am talking about pure chlorine and pure sodium.

Answer 1

Pure sodium would explode, while undergoing 2Na + 2H2O -> Na+ + OH- + H2. If it happens fast enough the H2 will ignite and then you will truly have a great explosion.

Cl2 is not powerful enough to strip electrons from water, so it would not react.

If you put Na and Cl2 together WITHOUT water then the sodium will donate its electron to chlorine (or alternatively, the Cl2 will strip sodium's electron) and form NaCl.

But if water is around the sodium will instantaneously react with it, while the chlorine is not strong enough to do that. So you would end up with very basic water containing Na+ and some dissolved Cl2. The other answerers are completely wrong, and you can prove this to yourself by looking at the redox potentials for sodium and chlorine in any analytical textbook.

Over a LONG period of time if you confine the gases then the Cl2 will react with the H2 to form HCl, which will dissolve in the water and give you the "table salt" but this is a slow reaction which would require confining the gases.

Answer 2

I'm not exactly certain what would happen, as chlorine naturally occurs as a gas, and sodium is a solid. I would have to assume that they would combine to form table salt (NaCl), since chlorine readily combines with most of the other elements, like sodium in salt.

Answer 3

I would bet that if you connected a battery to the water is would boil smoky bubbles.'Phase conjugate' pulse of electrical circuit.check results.Check other phosphate salts.Info leads to stream head water and discharge bacterial communication.Bacterial channeling may lead to sodium carbons that may explain from source of head water in stream setting and discharge rate of bacterial morphology.Very interesting when you look at soil changes and symbiont genetically introduced species bacteria.

Answer 4

Chlorine is Javex, and sodium is salt. I don't imagine much would happen.