Hey friends.

How do I handle a broken SOX lamp situation? I purchased a large lot of used 26 watt SOX lamps and three are broken. They were all wrapped individually in that good thick bubble wrap.

One of them has a broken inner tube. I take it that one is safe to keep as long as the outer glass does not break?

Another one got damage to the black cap. Looks like it was impacted and got bent a little/pushed into the bottom of the lamp slightly.

The third I am most worried about. The whole thing is shattered. It is the last one I inspected out of the lot. As soon as I tried to pick it up I knew it wasn't good when the bubble wrap was limp. I can now see tiny little pieces of glass inside the box and on my bed. They must be all over inside the box and with each lamp I took out of the box there must have been tiny pieces of glass on all of them that got transferred to my bed sheets. I unpacked these in my bedroom at my parents house. Probably not a good idea to do indoors.

How bad is this situation? Is the sodium only a hazard if it is wet? Or do I need to get it out of the house ASAP? I'm a bit worried and scared.

Oh no, sorry to hear of your broken lamps 

Sodium metal is only really a problem when it gets wet. A member here FrontSideBus has posted a video on YouTube on disposing of broken lamps, see here.

Oh no, sorry to hear of your broken lamps 

Sodium metal is only really a problem when it gets wet. A member here FrontSideBus has posted a video on YouTube on disposing of broken lamps, see here.

Yeah I saw that video. In my situation though the lamp is totally shattered. It is still wrapped in bubble wrap because I did not want to mess with it too much. But how should I dispose of mine since the whole lamp is already shattered? Should I just place the lamp, bubble wrap and all inside a bucket and fill it with water? Or carefully cut the bubble wrap and dump the shattered lamp pieces into the bucket then spray water?

What about the other two lamps? Can I keep the one that has a broken tube inside? If it is safe I would like to keep that one. I'll probably dispose of the one with a broken cap.

Yeah I saw that video. In my situation though the lamp is totally shattered. It is still wrapped in bubble wrap because I did not want to mess with it too much. But how should I dispose of mine since the whole lamp is already shattered? Should I just place the lamp, bubble wrap and all inside a bucket and fill it with water? Or carefully cut the bubble wrap and dump the shattered lamp pieces into the bucket then spray water?

What about the other two lamps? Can I keep the one that has a broken tube inside? If it is safe I would like to keep that one. I'll probably dispose of the one with a broken cap.

I'd just empty out the bubble wrap into a bucket and then put plenty of water on it. As for the others, if the outer envelope isn't broken it's safe to keep, although if you want to dispose of the one with a broken cap, smash it into the bucket along with the other broken one and then water it. Pity it won't grow into a new 180W lamp 

I'd just empty out the bubble wrap into a bucket and then put plenty of water on it. As for the others, if the outer envelope isn't broken it's safe to keep, although if you want to dispose of the one with a broken cap, smash it into the bucket along with the other broken one and then water it. Pity it won't grow into a new 180W lamp 

Lol. Thanks for your help Ria. I currently have the box that contains the smashed lamp in the. car garage. It is humid here so should I be worried about the humidity in the air causing the sodium to react?

Humidity in the air will make it react, however the undisturbed bubble wrap will keep it mostly dry. It will take a very long time to react, too.

Now, if you decide to make it react in a bucket of water, use cold water. Make sure you open up the bubble wrap as well because the reaction produces hydrogen gas, and under pressure it may become somewhat unpredictable. What would most likely happen is that the bubble wrap will burst open and it could throw some of the water out of the bucket.

What others said about putting the lamp in an empty bucket and then pouring water over it is best. Do not pour the water really fast as it will splash everywhere, but do not pour it too slowly either as it will heat up from the reaction, possibly boiling it and throwing a boiling NaOH solution everywhere.

Once the reaction is done, you could pour some vinegar to neutralize the strong base (NaOH) that is produced before disposing of it.

Here is the reaction : 2Na + 2HOH --> 2NaOH + H2

Thanks, that's a better explanation than I could have given, it's been a long while since my school chemistry days..! I do remember our science teacher was a nutter and did more than one "experiment" with lumps of sodium 

You're welcome.

If you decide to neutralize, use a liberal amount of vinegar. You want the vinegar to be in excess, in order to  make sure you have neutralized all of the NaOH.

Should you want a more detailed explanation of the stoichiometry behind this, I would be glad to oblige, but in the mean time I will spare the details since it would be off thread.

You're welcome.

If you decide to neutralize, use a liberal amount of vinegar. You want the vinegar to be in excess, in order to  make sure you have neutralized all of the NaOH.

Should you want a more detailed explanation of the stoichiometry behind this, I would be glad to oblige, but in the mean time I will spare the details since it would be off thread.

Thanks for the help. Maybe in another thread we could go over it more another time.
I was going to use the garden hose outside our house. Now that I think of it though I should probably take off the nozzle and just use the open hose to fill the bucket. I'll have to see if we have vinegar. I don't plan on doing this until Saturday most likely. So maybe i should bring it inside the house for now to get it out of the humidity.

Yes, the garden hose without a nozzle would work. If the box is where there is no chance of rain falling into it and the bubble wrap is mostly intact, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you bring it in the house, make sure it won't be where pets will go exploring as the sodium will react with their saliva... Not to mention the hazard of broken glass...

Yes, the garden hose without a nozzle would work. If the box is where there is no chance of rain falling into it and the bubble wrap is mostly intact, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you bring it in the house, make sure it won't be where pets will go exploring as the sodium will react with their saliva... Not to mention the hazard of broken glass...

I ended up leaving it in the garage. But I placed the bubble wrapped lamp inside a plastic grocery bag and tied it closed. Then placed the bag inside a 5 gallon bucket. I put a smaller bucket upside down inside the 5 gallon bucket to cover the bagged lamp. I'll be going there Saturday to react it with water.

When I smash the lamp with a broken bayonet cap will glass explode everywhere? I plan on hitting it with a hammer inside the bucket.

You should be fine with the packaging you provided.

When you smash, it is not necessary to pulverize. I have never done it to a spent/damaged SOX lamp, but I imagine that if the pieces are no larger than playing cards it would work. Be careful not to have flying glass, for obvious reasons...

You should be fine with the packaging you provided.

When you smash, it is not necessary to pulverize. I have never done it to a spent/damaged SOX lamp, but I imagine that if the pieces are no larger than playing cards it would work. Be careful not to have flying glass, for obvious reasons...

Thanks if I have any more questions I'll post here. Otherwise I'll post the results on Saturday.

I'd only worry about the broken glass and the possibility that some sodium metal ended up in a place where it could get wet. Other than that you should  be fine, as far as I know LPS lamps don't contain anything toxic.

It depends how long they have been smashed on their journey?  The sodium may have already evaporated in transit?