Chunk of gallium melts in your hand

[anon34812172]

Crazy and sad.

[shaddack]

Done as requested. You lucked out by catching me not sleeping yet. Early day tomorrow.

[anon34812172]

Thank you! As a favor back, & in the Maker spirit, I disassembled a Swiffer today and scavenged a nice micro switch, battery leads and wire, a little motor and this cool one way valve attached to a syringe needle, which was for letting the air back into the cleaning fluid bottle after it squirted out onto the floor. Pretty cool takedown.

[anon34812172]

Sends an absolute chill down my neck and spine. All it would take is some of that stuff seeping into the hull. Bwwwwweeeweweww.

[LDoBe]

Gallium: It melts in your mouth and in your hand!

[AllenH]

My understanding was that it was a US federal offense to take gallium on an aircraft. I don’t have a reference, so I’ll just say “the internet told me.”

[renke]

Is gallium a catalyser or is it “used up” when reacting with aluminium (too lazy to look it up)?

[anon34812172]

I don’t know. I’m a data nerd not a physical sciences weirdo. Shaddack, Meeshak, or Abednego, care to shed light here?

Edit. Wait. @anon61221983!!! I’m pressing the Mindy button.

[shaddack]

@AllenH

My understanding was that it was a US federal offense to take gallium on an aircraft. I don’t have a reference, so I’ll just say “the internet told me.”

I’d dare to. But I’d package it in a small pipebomb-like steel container that it would not escape from even in a plane crash. (Todo: check if gallium wets and embrittles ferrous alloys.)

@renke

Is gallium a catalyser or is it “used up” when reacting with aluminium (too lazy to look it up)?

It dissolves in the aluminium. (It also breaks the passivation so you can react the aluminium off with water and recover the less reactive gallium. (I think. Would have to check.)

@awjt

I disassembled a Swiffer today and scavenged a nice micro switch, battery leads and wire, a little motor and this cool one way valve attached to a syringe needle, which was for letting the air back into the cleaning fluid bottle after it squirted out onto the floor. Pretty cool takedown.

I have problems with my delta 3d printer. The head waves along the z-axis during horizontal travels. I am taking more naps than grampa Simpson these days which interferes with work and slows it down but will try to address it.

[renke]

Very interesting, thanks!

[MikeR]

Just don’t take it on a plane… seriously gallium amalgams with aluminium are scary:

For much the same reason, mercury is banned from aircraft.

[anon34812172]

@shaddack

The head waves along the z-axis during horizontal travels. I am taking more naps than gramp

Sounds like misconfig in the firmware. If it’s not a physical defect, I’d start playing there because it sounds like 1 or 2 motors are traveling at different rates that the other(s). I mention physical defects because those vertical bearings can sometimes be sticky so if you have one sticky one but the motors are calibrated fine then you can still have an issue. Upshot; one of these things is not like the other.

[Jambeeno]

Gallium seems alright to fiddle with a bit, but all the talk of dangerous substances reminded me of Derek Lowe’s Things I Won’t Work With series.

A bit from his piece on peroxides:

But I have to admit, I’d never thought much about the next analog of hydrogen peroxide. Instead of having two oxygens in there, why not three: HOOOH? Indeed, why not? This is a general principle that can be extended to many other similar situations. Instead of being locked in a self-storage unit with two rabid wolverines, why not three? Instead of having two liters of pyridine poured down your trousers, why not three? And so on – it’s a liberating thought. It’s true that adding more oxygen-oxygen bonds to a compound will eventually liberate the tiles from your floor and your windows from their frames, but that comes with the territory.

These thoughts were prompted by a recent paper in JACS that describes a new route to “dihydrogen trioxide”, which I suppose is a more systematic name than “hydrogen perperoxide”, my own choice. Colloquially, I would imagine that the compound is known as “Oh, @#&!”, substituted with the most heartfelt word available when you realize that you’ve actually made the stuff.

[anon8420928]

@shaddack

If you wannabe toxicologists want something to make your posterior pucker up at the sound of its name, try dimethyl mercury.

@njh

It’s definitely a shame that mercury isn’t safer (though as noted, it’s not as nasty as as people think).

The nastiness to which @shaddack refers is this sad story.

ETA - Crap, I guess I should RTFThread if I’m gonna flesh out others’ thoughts.

[anon29631895]

@frauenfelder

it will melt in your hand

That’s why I get the candy coated stuff…
Won’t melt in your hand.

[redesigned]

@AllenH

My understanding was that it was a US federal offense to take gallium on an aircraft.

@shaddack

I’d dare to. But I’d package it in a small pipebomb-like steel container

I think there might be a flaw in this plan!

[anon61221983]

But, I’m, a history geek, not a physical sciences weirdo! Isn’t this more up @ActionAbe’s alley? He’s the chemistry freak!

[anon34812172]

Phew! I’m just thankful you’re here now. MOMMEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee

[shaddack]

@redesigned

I think there might be a flaw in this plan!

Size does matter here!

…and you can use e.g. a hollowed out bolt or other common steel implement for visual concealment as a common object.

The important part is not to follow the paperwork and rules but to avoid mishaps (it’s your ass on the bird, after all). Following the rules is only one of the ways. (However if you want to opt out, be very defensive in the engineering part.)

[semiotix]

@anon47741163

Certainly not the TSA! If they were all that was standing between us and air terror, planes would be falling from the sky every week from gallium induced structural failure.

While I respect your evil machinations, even if we ignore paint and other sealants on top of the aluminum, you’d need to douse the whole plane in liquid gallium at once… in mid-air. Which would make it fall from the sky, but then dumping a few dozen tons of any metal on a plane in flight would work too. Discreetly spritzing gallium on the fuselage would, at worst, result in discreet little holes which would not jeopardize flightworthiness. Might as well just land your floating gallium forge on the White House lawn and take over directly, if you’ve got that kind of technology.

Instead, I recommend you refocus from world domination to quality-of-life crimes. Here’s a list of cars with aluminum body panels. That asshole in the Subaru Legacy who cut you off won’t be so smug once your bucket of gallium has its say!