Sodium metal

[Atomicrox]

Sounds like fun, the snowballs

Got the oil, now I'm trying to find a suitable bottle that won't let too much air inside after it's closed.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

Sounds like fun, the snowballs

Got the oil, now I'm trying to find a suitable bottle that won't let too much air inside after it's closed.

A simple glass specimen bottle with a black rubber stopper should suffice perfectly.

something like this ...
7 Glass Lab Reagent Bottles Vial Sample Narrow Mouth 30 ml w Rubber Stopper | eBay

:can:

I was tempted to get a bag - yes you read right - a 1lb BAG of uranyl nitrate once as it was quite inexpensive but the contamination worries were just too much for me.

Uranyl Nitrate was once widely used by Kodak to produce a photographic toner (KODAK T-9). Kodak once had 1000's of Kg in storage and when they decided to go completely digital they had to ask the NRC to remove it. They ended up with a very large clean up bill as you can well imagine. Fortunately some of the original Uranyl Nitrate was sold to other companies so there is plenty in circulation.
I have had the fortunate luck to "handle" a large 2Kg tub of (KODAK T-9) from the 1960's which was found by me on my F/A practicum at my middle school in 2005. I found it by accident while discovering bags of old chemicals in a long forgotten storage area. The tub was so badly damaged from oxidation that I was scared we were going to contaminate the entire room.
We had to call in a HAZMAT team to remove it. Again, the fear is of the toxicity not the Radiation, though 2Kg is extremely Radioactive.

A small hand held geiger counter (an old Dryden Aqua) from my schools physics/chem lab pegged 5m from the bucket on 100x. The scale on the meter was from 0-100mR/hr.
You'll find the below video pretty interesting on creating Uranotypes with Uranyl Nitrate. Take note the protection when handling it.
Thought it's moderately Radioactive, its toxicity is nearly immediate, causing acute renal failure.

 

[Atomicrox]

I found an olive bottle that seems just the right size. It has a metal lid with a rubber "ring" (not sure how that thing is called) and seems airtight. Only thing is that it still smells of olives

 

[millirad]

One element that some may not want is Tellurium. It tends to give those exposed to it a putrid garlic odour. It has been known to "clear" a lab with the really foul odour which permeates everything owing to it's potency.

From smelling it one time, many years ago, I can clearly remember it's signature smell. It's too strong to play a prank with. Yeah it's that bad.

 

[shokkunlasers]

With a little trick you can make Aluminium react like Sodium but weaker.

Just don't throw your Aluminium away after making it "weak" with Gallium.
The low melting temperature "alloy" they form together reacts with water because Aluminium is pretty reactive. Normally its just protected by its Al²O³ oxide layer which can't exist in the alloy with Gallium.

You also get your gallium back this way.

I just love Gallium a bit like less toxic mercury

 

[MarioMaster]

Speaking of such things, this bottle sits on my desk

 

[Sigurthr]

When I was younger and really into chemistry I made a 1/2lb batch of Woods Metal. The real stuff, with pure cadmium. I remember finding a 5lb ball of cadmium in an old crate in the chemical plant I used to help out at during the summers. I simply took a hack saw and cut chunks off until I had the weight I needed then melted it down with a blow torch. Ahh, the good old days when a pre-teen, a blow torch, and heavy metals could have such wondrous fun without getting arrested.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

When I was younger and really into chemistry I made a 1/2lb batch of Woods Metal. The real stuff, with pure cadmium. I remember finding a 5lb ball of cadmium in an old crate in the chemical plant I used to help out at during the summers. I simply took a hack saw and cut chunks off until I had the weight I needed then melted it down with a blow torch. Ahh, the good old days when a pre-teen, a blow torch, and heavy metals could have such wondrous fun without getting arrested.

Cadmium is a metal I have never come across in pure form yet though it's compounds are fairly common especially in photosensors.
~Actually looking through my silver soldier spools, low and behold listed on the MSDS sheet is cadmium. (no lead soldier) :can:

I've always wanted a sample of Greenockite CdS but it's usually VERY expensive as decently sized samples.

The below sample starts at ~$167.00USD... I've seen these sample go for +$300USD easily nowadays..

With a little trick you can make Aluminium react like Sodium but weaker.

Just don't throw your Aluminium away after making it "weak" with Gallium.
The low melting temperature "alloy" they form together reacts with water because Aluminium is pretty reactive. Normally its just protected by its Al²O³ oxide layer which can't exist in the alloy with Gallium.

You also get your gallium back this way.

I just love Gallium a bit like less toxic mercury

Actually, good point, fine Aluminium powder is highly reactive with water and under the right circumstances can burst into flames!
Aluminium metal reacts with H2O in much the same way as Sodium in that it is able to release hydrogen (H2) gas gaining (O2), a process that evolves extremely high heat leading to auto-ignition.
Personally I have seen this happen first hand...
This process can be harvested to generate electricity see video below.

 

[Atomicrox]

Now I'm gonna have to try the Al experiment!

 

[Seoul_lasers]

For anyone wanting to try generating Hydrogen gas with Aluminum powder

DANGER.

SAFETY FIRST !
PLEASE DON'T EVER grind Aluminum powder to attempt to get smaller Al particles.
You're likely to get a very serious metal dust explosion doing that!!
observe the video...

 

[Atomicrox]

I meant the one with the Ga-Al alloy, not pure Al. See post #21.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

I meant the one with the Ga-Al alloy, not pure Al. See post #21.

Ah... I thought you were going to try making hydrogen gas...
I guess I haven't converted you to the dark side yet! :eg::eg:

Sorry...

I put that warning out for anyone considering making Aluminum powder the wrong way....:wave::wave:

 

[shokkunlasers]

yeah fine metal powders are dangerous

Actually I grinded Al powder to around 1um particle size by putting it in between two heavy steel plates and move them slowly
Only two grams at once and with my mask on


Not long time ago needed it for new years eve

edit: he is making hydrogen with the Ga-Al alloy + H²O too ;P

 

[Atomicrox]

Powerful, the dark side is. Resist, I must!

But yeah, why are the coolest things always the most dangerous ones?

Don't worry, you never know who is reading.. reminds me of a kid asking if he was wiring a MOT correctly "to make lightning" on a local Tesla coil forum some years ago. He had a very dangerous setup, clearly had no idea of what he was doing and was propbably gonna die if he tried to turn that on. Of course we did the same thing you did above I left that forum eventually, it's too risky informing "a bad audience" about the dark side.

 

[shokkunlasers]

The reason why I won't talk about primary, secondary explosives and high voltage stuff.

My two rules for safety are that you NEED to understand everything by yourself, not follow instructions how to make something.

And you must know what the consequences of using it. (especially with toxic or illegal things)


And that's hard to proof for me when I write a tutorial on how to make an EMP device for example.

Just take a look how many guests are online right now

 

[styropyro]

Ah sodium, fun stuff. I used to have a LOT of this stuff as a kid!

Here's a really old video of me throwing some into a bucket of water:

Powerful, the dark side is. Resist, I must!

But yeah, why are the coolest things always the most dangerous ones?

Dangerous stuff is always the most entertaining Even though I'm not surprised, I find it funny that people in the laser hobby tend to have similar other mad scientist hobbies like HV and pyrotechnics/explosives.