Talk:Downs cell

In doing a web search on this topic, I found that most if not all of the original article (prior to my edits) was copied from an existing website. I will be doing a complete rewrite in the very near future to remove the plagiarism. Karl Hahn (T) (C) 19:44, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Reliability

There is a question mark over whether the overall reaction is correct. I have found in a source (Smoot, R, Price, J, Smith, R, 1983, Chemistry: A modern course, Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., Columbus) that the overall reaction is: 2NaCl(aq) + 2H₂O(l) → 2NaOH(aq) + H2(g) + Cl₂(g). --Depor23 07:42, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

The Downs cell does not use water. Hence there can be no H₂ or NaOH as a product. There are a number of cells that produce Cl₂ and NaOH from brine. These include the Castner-Kellner cell, the Hargreaves-Bird cell, the Gibbs cell, and the Le Sueur cell. You can find many references on the web to the Downs cell by doing a Google search. They all indicate that the Downs cell is electrolysis of a fused chloride salt. Karl Hahn (T) (C) 12:43, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Baffles

Could someone please describe how the baffles opperate, and how they are made? Thank you. I would do it myself, but it takes me forever to find, check and verify my work--Th(e)riknator 21:34, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

According to the diagram in General Chemistry by Pauling, the baffles are made of iron. The part of the baffle that forms a vertical separator between anode and cathode is perforated with an array of small holes. Karl Hahn (T) (C) 01:54, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Calcium or no?

According to this source, some calcium is produced, despite the difference in reactivities, but does not contaminate the product because the sodium floats on it. This source also says the reason for using CaCl₂ is that the Na and NaCl form an inseparable "metallic fog" at 801C. Is this the case?Hieronymus Illinensis (talk) 21:15, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Sodium or magnesium?

In the article sodium and magnesium are used interchangeably. For the most part the article talks about magnesium, but the melting points are given for sodium chloride. Furthermore, the illustration depicts a cell used to produce sodium and the process is mentioned in the article about sodium metal. Tkkot (talk) 14:20, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

I think this article is wrong. The sources I found by a simple web search, only mentions sodium and chlorine as products. I saw no one that used a Down's cell to produce magnesium. Some maybe relevant articles I discovered (I'm not a chemist, I just know the chemical elements), are:

• Downs cell
• Occurrence and Preparation of the Representative Metals

Rursus dixit. (^mbork³!) 15:59, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

OK, so I found in the history that the article was originally describing the Down's cell as the method to produce sodium, but that the article repeatedly have been obfuscated (perhaps maliciously) by the IP 118.137.73.73 to in effect destroy the veracity of the article by changing sodium to magnesium. Rursus dixit. (^mbork³!) 16:16, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

Use of the Down's cell in electrolysis of molten sodium chloride to produce sodium metal and chlorine gas is attested here. Processes for electrolytic production of magnesium are documented, [1] but none of these involve Down's cells (magnesium is mainly produced in China via the energy-intensive pyrometallurgical Pidgeon process). A one day effort on 29.11.2019 by User 118.137.73.73 to edit sodium out and magnesium in as a "factual error....fixed (thanks to me)" seems entirely mistaken and I agree with Rursus that those edits should all be reverted. Philvoids (talk) 17:40, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you! Rursus dixit. (^mbork³!) 04:16, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

You would probably get help at WT:WikiProject Chemistry. Johnuniq (talk) 07:45, 22 May 2023 (UTC)