elementcollector1

Are you saying you would like to electrolyze the salt solution to produce sodium metal and chlorine gas? If so, this is impossible. You will make NaOH, Cl2, and H2. If you're trying to make electricity from the solution, you can make a galvanic cell to that effect.

That's fine. Trial-and-error can work too.

Will any ether work, or does it have to be a specific ether? Failing that, is there any substitute? I heard YT2095 managed to make CeO2, and he mentioned he only had the basic acids on him at the time. Though I may have misread that. http://www.sciencefo...rom-mischmetal/ Oh, and if possible John Cuthber, can you give me a few specific measurements for the solutions? "X grams of NaOH dissolved in X mL of H2O2 solution", and so on? EDIT: Something I found on Wikipedia, and I would opt for method 2: The two oxidation states of cerium differ enormously in basicity: cerium(III) is a strong base, comparable to the other trivalent lanthanides, but cerium(IV) is weak. This difference has always allowed cerium to be by far the most readily isolated and purified of all the lanthanides, otherwise a notoriously difficult group of elements to separate. A wide range of procedures have been devised over the years to exploit the difference. Among the better ones: Leaching the mixed hydroxides with dilute nitric acid: the trivalent lanthanides dissolve in cerium-free condition, and tetravalent cerium remains in the insoluble residue as a concentrate to be further purified by other means. A variation on this uses hydrochloric acid and the calcined oxides from bastnasite, but the separation is less sharp. Precipitating cerium from a nitrate or chloride solution using potassium permanganate and sodium carbonate in a 1:4 molar ratio Boiling rare-earth nitrate solutions with potassium bromate and marble chips. What would this precipitate the cerium as, for method #2?

Er... argon? If it does create Mg, then I'll be doing this particular experiment a lot.

I would assume magnesium, but I may be mistaken.

So would it make a sintered magnesium powder?

Actually, I just got a good amount of chromium chloride in solution. Wikipedia says this is largely inert to substitution (displacement?), but it also says that if I add zinc while there is still some HCl in there, it will reduce the CrCl3 to CrCl2, thereby "carrying out the rest of the reaction with ease" or something like that. Would this make chromium metal powder?

Really, what I would need then is chromium (III) oxide. I can make some of it from steel, but the process is long and doesn't give me much. Could I just burn powdered stainless steel and magnetize out the impurities when cooled?

Right, well, I found a way to make small amounts of Cr2O3 with stainless steel by placing the object in salt water (for some reason, the stuff only forms directly above the water level). Nonetheless, anyone got a faster way? Also, I'd rather not deal with carbon monoxide, or collect a nickel-containing gas, no offense.

I just did a sort of manganese-based thermite. I had washed and dried, fine powdered MnO2 from alkaline batteries, and coarse Aluminum powder which was made in a ball mill. Now, the thing wouldn't behave like a normal thermite when I ignited it: The magnesium fuse just went out as soon as it touched the mix (which was expected, I suppose) and I had to hold a blowtorch over it for extended periods of time to get any reaction at all. Here's what happened: When the flame was over an area, that area emitted molten sparks of metal, which collected at the bottom of the flowerpot. Was this newly formed alumina or manganese? I have reason to suspect both, as the powder that resulted has the color of alumina, but I read that in an iron thermite, the sparks are molten iron. -Also, I have a number of black and brown pellets in the center, which glowed brightly when I put the torch to them. Is this the manganese as well? I have reason to suspect it is, as none of the MnO2 behaved like this, and I read that aluminum doesn't get red-hot. So, anyone who has any experience with thermites can help me out here.

Used a blowtorch spray add-on, and the result was great. My pieces bent near perfectly.

I was bored and feeling stupid tonight, so I dropped a 9v battery in salt water, hoping to make NaOH. It seemed to work at first, as bubbles of hydrogen were rapidly being formed. But then, I checked back on it a few minutes later, and something blackish was drifting around. Bubbles were still forming (at the anode only, for some reason), so I decanted the solution into a new container. The solution has blackish particles drifting around in a dark green solution. My guess is that the manganese dioxide and potassium hydoxide reacted in solution to make the green solution of potassium manganate, and extra manganese dioxide would explain the black particles. Is this logical, and if not, why? What was the solution? And how did it act the way it did (did the sodium hydroxide eat through the battery?) Now, I know this was in hindsight a dumb experiment, but I'm curious as to what the result was.

So, could I precipitate chromium as the metal at all, or would this require something along the lines of a thermite?

A bit late for that (no offense), and I could just re-cut it afterwards. I think I'll get some dryer vent duct, and try that. If that doesn't work, then I'll just buy some new PVC.

Alright, I'll try again with the hairdryer. Heat the spring or the pipe? The problem with the spring is that the pipe has been cut open. Would this still work?

First, how on earth did you get thorium nitrate? ... I want some thorium nitrate. Anyway, aluminum would be good, but magnesium would be best if you had it. Keep in mind, though, that pure thorium is attacked slowly by water. <INSERT MASSIVE THORIUM RADIATION WARNING HERE> I would suggest a lead-coated vial, or lead sheeting for keeping this stuff around.

First test; open-ended PVC: I was able to compress it ever so slightly between my fingers after several minutes of heating. Second test; closed PVC filled with tissues: Same thing. The hairdryer was set to Low, as High made a sputtering noise and I was not about to find out what it was. Your advice?

Well, you never know. We thought antimatter didn't occur naturally, until somebody found it naturally occuring above a thunderstorm or something.

It... doesn't? It's an alkaline earth metal. And in that case, I'd like to add something to the procedure. Between dissolving acid and adding magnesium, you should first: -Boil down the solution (carefully and outside, you don't want HCl inside your home) -Re-dissolve the zinc in distilled water. Would that work better?

Alright, so the end products of that seem to be CrCl3 and NiCl2 in solution. So, how do I get just chromium chloride in solution? Because once I have that, I should be able to put zinc in there and get chromium metal due to a single displacement reaction, correct? EDIT: Also, where do I get ether?

There is a way to do it with muriatic acid, but it requires a more reactive metal, such as magnesium. This is a single displacement reaction: ZnCl2 + Mg -> Zn + MgCl So dissolve the zinc in excess hydrochloric acid (until there is no further reaction with the zinc), and add a block of magnesium. The zinc will be precipitated out as a powder, which can then be washed with water and dried.

Um, not really... It's a game on Steam. So, where can I get some dryer insulation?

I'm okay at it, but it really depends on what needs to be done.

So, seeing as acids seem the best way to go, what would be a good procedure for getting the chlorides of lanthanum and cerium separated from the mix? I could probably reduce these with lithium.

I've recently online run into a metal called "ruthenium brass". Specifically, on Amazon. Is this an alloy of brass and ruthenium? It doesn't look like it's ruthenium-plated, because it's lacking the dark gray color. Help would be much appreciated.