NaK
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Midgley (Talk | contribs)
I can't answer for the actual proportions, but the English is now better, and the concept more clear.
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NaK (often pronounced as such, rhyming with "sack") is an alloy of sodium and potassium, and particularly one that is liquid at room temperatures. It is a commercially available material in various grades. Alloys with between about 40% and 90% potassium by weight are liquid at room temperatures.
Sodium and Potassium form a eutectic mixture. Proportions of 78% potassium and 22% sodium produce the lowest melting point, this alloy is liquid from −12.6 degrees Celsius to 785 degrees Celsius.
One notable use is as the coolant in experimental fast neutron nuclear reactors. Unlike commercial plants, these are frequently shut down and defuelled. Use of lead or sodium, the other materials used in practical reactors, would require continual heating to maintain the coolant as a liquid. Use of NaK overcomes this. NaK is used in many other heat transfer applications for similar reasons.
NaK is also used as a catalyst for many reactions, including precursors of ibuprofen.
NaK is highly reactive with air or water, and must be handled with special precautions. Quantities as small as one gram can be a fire or explosion risk. Template:Alloy-stubca:NaK