CLEANING SODIUM METAL E. B. WILSON Colle~eof the City of New York
SODIUMmetalmay be cleanedby slicing i t into strips about a quarter of an inch thick, putting into a flask, covering with toluene and heating the flask until the toluene boils and the sodium melts. The metal will flow out of the film of oxide which coats it and collect in a large globule. The molten metal can be poured into a beaker. The oxide, carbonate, etc., remain in the flask. Before the sodium has time to solidify, the beaker is rotated slightly in order to break the large globule into several smaller ones of whatever size desired for the particular synthesis involved. The plastic metal may be broken up by a stirring rod into pieces of proper size if rotation is unsatisfactory. We have found it undesirable to attempt to filter the molten metal through wire gauze or glass wool. It may be siphoned directly from the flask into previously heated glass tubes if the purpose for which it is to be used demands this. Clean sodium may be secured safely and quickly by this method. The metal will. tarnish less if preserved under toluene rather than kerosene as the toluene is purer and absorbs water less readily than kerosene.
