How can saline hydrides remove traces of water from organic compounds?

Explanation

Saline hydrides (i.e., NaH, `"CaH"_(2)` etc. ) react with water forming their corresponding metal hydroxides with the liberation of dihydrogen. Thus, traces of water present in organic solvent can be easily removed by distilling them over saline hydrides when dihydrogen escapes into the atmosphere, metal hydrides when dihydrogen escapes into the atmosphere, metal hydroxides when dihydrogen escapes into the atmosphere, metal hydroxides are left in the distillation flask and dry organic solvent is distiled over.