Castner–Kellner process
The Castner-Kellner process is a way to make a substance called sodium hydroxide, which is also known as lye or caustic soda. Imagine you're making a cake and you need to measure out some flour, sugar, and baking powder. In the Castner-Kellner process, instead of flour, sugar, and baking powder, you need some salt, water, and electricity.
First, you mix some salt into water and make a salty solution. Then you put this solution into a big tank with two chambers separated by a membrane. This membrane is like a wall that lets some things pass through, but not others.
Now comes the part with the electricity. Do you know what happens when you rub your socks on the carpet and then touch something metal, like a doorknob? You get a shock! This is because when you rub your socks, you build up an electrical charge.
In the Castner-Kellner process, electricity is used to pull apart the salt and water molecules in the tank. This makes a type of gas called hydrogen and a type of metal called sodium. The membrane stops the hydrogen from getting into the other chamber, so only the sodium can go through. It then reacts with liquid mercury to make a new substance called sodium amalgam.
The sodium amalgam is then mixed with water and an acid in another tank. This reaction causes the sodium to break away from the mercury and form into solid pellets of pure sodium hydroxide.
These pellets can be dried and packaged up to be used in all sorts of things, like soap, cleaning products, and even food. The Castner-Kellner process is a very important way to make sodium hydroxide because it is safer and more efficient than other methods.
First, you mix some salt into water and make a salty solution. Then you put this solution into a big tank with two chambers separated by a membrane. This membrane is like a wall that lets some things pass through, but not others.
Now comes the part with the electricity. Do you know what happens when you rub your socks on the carpet and then touch something metal, like a doorknob? You get a shock! This is because when you rub your socks, you build up an electrical charge.
In the Castner-Kellner process, electricity is used to pull apart the salt and water molecules in the tank. This makes a type of gas called hydrogen and a type of metal called sodium. The membrane stops the hydrogen from getting into the other chamber, so only the sodium can go through. It then reacts with liquid mercury to make a new substance called sodium amalgam.
The sodium amalgam is then mixed with water and an acid in another tank. This reaction causes the sodium to break away from the mercury and form into solid pellets of pure sodium hydroxide.
These pellets can be dried and packaged up to be used in all sorts of things, like soap, cleaning products, and even food. The Castner-Kellner process is a very important way to make sodium hydroxide because it is safer and more efficient than other methods.