Sodium amalgam sodium metal in mercury or the reverse. Sodium amalgams can be purchased from chemical supply houses. Since its introduction in the 1880s by students of Robert Bunsen, Julius Tafel and Hans Goldschmidt, sodium amalgam has also been used in organic chemistry as a powerful reducing agent, which is safer to handle than sodium itself. An example of its use is in the Emde degradation. A sodium amalgam is used in the design of the high pressure sodium lamp providing sodium to produce the proper color, and mercury to tailor the electrical characteristics of the lamp. Sodium amalgam is a by-product
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam of alchemical texts: Theatrum Chemicum, and commented upon by Pseudo Aquinas in Aurora Consurgens. They both also give his (modified) image of the sage holding a chemical table (see image above). Al-Tughrai was an 11th–12th century Persian physician. whose work the"Masabih al-hikma wa-mafatih al-rahma" (The Lanterns of Wisdom and the Keys of Mercy) is one of the earliest works of material sciences. Al-Jildaki who was a Persian alchemist urged in his book the need for experimental chemistry and mentioned many experiments "Kanz al-ikhtisas fi ma'rifat al-khawas by Abu 'l-Qasim Aydamir al-Jildaki". Jābir analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of Aristotle's