Here is a nice video showing how Rb and Cs react with water:
Alkali metals in the water: Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs
Although the show looks really nice, I do not believe that demonstrated explosions can be really produced by reaction of Rb or Cs with water.
It seems to me that they used industrial explosives to fake the experiment.
What do you think about it?
Rb & Cs explosion
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Heh, I dont know about the reactions, but the video was fun, especially the burning of the "boring science video."
Other helpful site:
www.Chemicool.com/forum
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www.Chemicool.com/forum
It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be the great dreamer.
-Theodore Roosevelt
The reaction of such metals is certainly explosive under the right circumstances and i have seen videos of Cs cracking glass containers. However the video in question seems to be cheating, if you look at the Rb slow motion you can see a rather suspect wire leading into the tub. So i Say fake, regular watchers of the show will notice that their science, and especially chemistry is rather dubious...
In Physical Chemistry experiments must be reproducible, they should fail the same way each time