…I’m going to need more reassurance than probably safer than playing with mercury.
Gallium is fun to use for the disappearing spoon trick. As a side note I absolutely love Sam Kean’s book The Disappearing Spoon about the periodic table and stories about all the elements.
Let’s not forget the aluminum infiltration trick.
I had the impression that this isn’t the sort of thing you want to accidentally ingest, though?
Hey, as long as it’s not the infamous rare melt-your-hand variant.
From the Wiki page: “While metallic gallium is not considered toxic, the data is inconclusive. Some sources suggest that it may cause dermatitis from prolonged exposure; but other tests have not caused a positive reaction.”
I have a friend. It is one of his, uh, life goals, to one day float in a tub of gallium.
Well, with enough 20-gram samples…
You joke, but 10 minutes later, he’s already calculated out he’d need $95,000 to fill his bath.
Buy your own terminator kit! Watch it melt and imitate your own face before it ends your life!
I couldn’t get this to work when I tried it, but maybe I didn’t scratch through anodizing enough…
That’s on a tub of gallium
Gallium is currently about $250/kg, so the Amazon price is about twice the bulk price (not bad actually). Assuming he needs 100kg to float, that’s a mere $25000.
You won’t need to fill a bath because, with a density of 5.9 and as I note above, you would more or less float on top of it. Still displace body weight, of course. A decent quantity to half fill a typical bath would be about 600kg, or $150000, but your floor loading might not permit.
I would say, get it while it’s cheap.
Also, if you fell in molten metal, you would float as well.
It suddenly occurred to me this conversation has been had before.
20 grams of melt-in-your hand gallium for $10
One more hyphen: melt-in-your-hand gallium.
$10? Bought.
Don’t drop it on the carpet. You’re welcome.
Not too shabby to accomplish a life goal. I’ve paid more than that for a used Toyota (not a life goal).
86 degrees? It’s about that hot in Silicon Valley today; maybe a good time for home-made gallium semiconductors?
I prefer chocolate.
“probably safer” than mercury…
