School experiment on elements

[Saaz]

Hello,

I want to do an activity with my students where we study some basic properties of some elements of different groups. I'm concerned about some hazards with some of these elements. I work under a simple fume hood.

My concerns are:
- Pure Sodium/lithium: Is it safe to handle at room temperature and standard humidity conditions? Once in stored in mineral oil, how safe is it to keep it in chemical storage?
- Mercury: is it safe to put a couple of drops of mercury in the watch glass at room temperature? I'm mostly concerned about the fumes and the inhalation hazards.
- Noble gases: I saw some small Tesla coil to excite the noble gases (eg powered by a 9V battery); how safe are these tesla coil? Are there some hazards?

I would appreciate any information that you have about it.

Best,
Saaz

[ChenBeier]

Lithium , sodium are safe if stored accordng the regulations. Both develop hydrogen if get wet. Mostly the hydrogen gets ignited, large amount explod and molten metal splashes around and can harm people.

Why you want expose mercury it's poisson. Don't do it.

With the Tesla coil, I don't know what you really want to do. Noble gases are not visible and do no chemical reaction under standard conditions.

[zanderkunze]

Yes, mercury is an extremely toxic substance, if accidentally exposed to a small amount, it can cause serious health problems, I advise you not to expose mercury like that.

[hylaji]

Hello,

I want to do an activity with my students where we study some basic properties of some elements of different groups. I'm concerned about some hazards with some of these elements. I work under a simple fume hood.

My concerns are:
- Pure Sodium/lithium: Is it safe to handle at room temperature and standard humidity conditions? Once in stored in mineral oil, how safe is it to keep it in chemical storage?
- Mercury: is it safe to put a couple of drops of mercury in the watch glass at room temperature? I'm mostly concerned about the fumes and the inhalation hazards.
- Noble gases: I saw some small Tesla coil to excite the noble gases (eg powered by a 9V battery); how safe are these tesla coil? Are there some hazards?

I would appreciate any information that you have about it.

Best,
Saaz

Safety at room temperature and typical humidity?
→ Not safe to handle openly.

Sodium and lithium are highly reactive alkali metals, especially with moisture or water (including humidity, sweat on hands, and even air moisture).

Contact with water (even a small amount) can lead to:

Violent reactions

Release of flammable hydrogen gas

Risk of fire or explosion

Lithium is slightly less reactive than sodium, but still not safe for open-air handling.

Storage in mineral oil:

Correct and standard method. However:

Ensure it is stored under oil, in tightly sealed containers, preferably in a flammables cabinet.

Containers must be clearly labeled and inspected regularly for leakage, crusting, or oxidation.

Do not store long-term in shared storage if the environment is not monitored — sodium can degrade and form peroxides or react with oxygen.

[ChenBeier]

Don't answer 1 year old post, the question was already answered