Sodium, sheep, and disproportionate punishment

Did you know …

That I’ve been on a little bit of a summer vacation? It’s true!

Where’s the science in that? Well, it means that I haven’t been posting science facts. I have been writing them, I just don’t post them on account of my nerves. You see . . . well . . .

Did you know that when elemental sodium comes in contact with water, it produces a violent exothermic reaction? This is also true, but until you experience it firsthand, it probably won’t mean much to you, much less damage you emotionally.

Two things have been happening at my house recently. The first is that a sump pump was being installed in my basement. To do this, the workermen have to cut through the cement slab. The second thing is that workermen in my basement, while cutting through my slab, discovered a rich vein of pure sodium. Being German, the workermen were thrilled at the prospect of discovering a precious metal—their tools had scraped the oxidization from the sodium, revealing its bright metallic interior. I assume they thought it was silver, or something similar, but I can’t be certain. instead of evacuating the basement, they poured water over the exposed metal, and exploded themselves.

You might find this funny, but it absolutely isn’t. Yeah, I get how a bunch of German criminals exploding in a basement could be funny, but there are several reasons why it isn’t in this case. One, my basement is a mess. A total mess. Two, my front yard is a mess. It’s covered in flowers, photographs and little candles. You can mow over that stuff all you want, but it’ll just be back in a day or two. And, finally, there’s still a lot of sodium and a lot of water in my basement (the sump was never successfully installed after all). Try relaxing with random explosions happening every few minutes. Try taking a nap to the sound of fragments of German sheep rapists pelting the joists. (Do you think it’s more or less funny, now that you know they were rapists of farm animals? They didn’t deserve to get exploded in a basement, but . . .  it’s hard not to chuckle, at least. It’s probably the last time I go with a discount foreign-based community service labor contractor, though.)

So I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep. But I’m hoping that the sodium will all have reacted soon, or at least that the explosions move out toward the street (the city will have to help out at that point, I think. So far they’ve been pretending I don’t exist.) Until then, keeping looking at the stars!