Well after looking at the bismuth crystal in the destktop wallpaper thread (sorry i forgot whos it is), as well as the suggestion of using [old] RAM as a keyring, I was wondering is there any crystals or any other such things you could easily make to use as orniments etc?

Perhaps mercury in a thick glass ampoule would make a nice keyring. It has its hazards though. Heavy metals make also nice keyrings, a plate of tungsten or a small ring of iridium is something you don't see every day. One of my dreams is to have an osmium ring, it's just going to be bloody expensive.

 

PS. The bismuth crystal is mine.

lol, I used to sell old EPROM chips made into jewelery (necklaces earings etc...) outside of Rave Parties several years ago, I have buckets full of them, and made a few and my mate suggested doing it `coz they looked good (so I did).

 

as for "Crystals" unless you have the right equip, you`ll not make any that will withstand the "bashing" from a bunch of keys in a pocket

 

Low temp metal castings are ok, but sadly the lower the temp needed to cast, the softer the metal or alloy

 

Glass casting is impractical for same reasons as outlined above also.

 

Pyrites wouldn`t be a bad idea though, easy to make and mount, and with care you can make some beautifull looking specimens too!

"Low temp metal castings are ok, but sadly the lower the temp needed to cast, the softer the metal or alloy :("

 

Isn't gallium harder than indium? Indium can be easily cut through with a knife, but my gallium piece seems to be hard to cut (without melting it of course).

it`s very soft though, and likely to melt at body temp.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of eutetic mixtures like Tin/Lead etc...

"it`s very soft though, and likely to melt at body temp."

 

Today I played with some gallium at school, and guess if my friend knocked it off my hand when I was washing it over the sink to solidify it. Goodbye gallium. >:/ The dude's going to pay me five euros (which is probably what it was worth, since it was about 1/4 of a 20€ piece) on Monday, luckily.

 

If someone wants to play with some major amounts of gallium, I recommend buying a kg bottle of it from Emovendo. Costs a bit, so don't pour it in the drain like I did.

any chance you could send me some?

 

saves me buying a load without a good reason other than I want to play with a quantity, less explaining to do

Hey, send me some too. You could buy gallium in bulk then distribute it throughout sfn.

YT, since it seems I'm coming to England in December, I can give you a piece then. If we won't go directly to damn London, that is. :< (You live in Birmingham, right?)

 

Edit: Lance, I could buy the kg bottle of gallium for further distribution, but it wouldn't be too reasonable if it just were you and YT who are wanting some.

Gilded, I`ll PM you with details, the cash isn`t a prob and it would be cool to meet up for a beer or 7

Perhaps a coke or something would be nice, since I'm 16. And I don't like beer very much. :<

hmm, speaking of bismuth, i have a few ounces and i DONT plan on nucleosynthesizing 210 astatine because i actually respect my ability to reproduce. so, i was thinking of making some crystals out of a bunch of bismuth. anybody have any ideas as to how i could do this? i dont have much experience with crystal growing.

"it`s very soft though' date=' and likely to melt at body temp."

 

Today I played with some gallium at school, and guess if my friend knocked it off my hand when I was washing it over the sink to solidify it. Goodbye gallium. >:/ The dude's going to pay me five euros (which is probably what it was worth, since it was about 1/4 of a 20€ piece) on Monday, luckily.

 

If someone wants to play with some major amounts of gallium, I recommend buying a kg bottle of it from Emovendo. Costs a bit, so don't pour it in the drain like I did. [/quote']

I wouldn't mindsome, I started the thread so can I have some gallium plz

"hmm, speaking of bismuth, i have a few ounces and i DONT plan on nucleosynthesizing 210 astatine because i actually respect my ability to reproduce."

 

Hey, it's an inexpensive way of self-sterilization.

 

"I wouldn't mindsome, I started the thread so can I have some gallium plz"

 

Damn you gallium-hoggers! You can buy it from RGB, Emovendo, Metallium Inc., Smart Elements... The list goes on.

 

Edit: Oh, here are some crystal making instructions:

http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Stories/083.4/index.html

im skint

Just melt bismuth over a burner in some kind of small pot. After it’s fully melted take it off and let it cool. After half of it solidifies poor the rest off and you have your crystals. The hard part is knowing when its half solidified so you kind of have to experiment with the right time to pour.

sounds like fun. got any ideas for keeping it from fusing to my pot?