Gilded

1mol of OH- in a liter of water = pH 14. I can't see why it couldn't be > 14.

Umm... You made a hole in the wall with a glass marbe or something? If the wall is made of something stronger than wood, I'm impressed.

Tomorrow's newspaper: "Weird flashes seen in Slovenia - UFO?"

Cobalt is also a nice thing to cover an atomic bomb with; it transforms into isotope 60 taking enhanced fallout to whole new level. And I do know that cobalt-60 is used in food sterilisation. David Hahn a.k.a. the Radioactive Boyscout. The guy who built his own breeder reactor (in his stepmother's garden shed :> ).

"Cadmium and Graphite rods as a general rule (sorry if I sound picky, but it IS a science site) :)" David Hahn used cobalt dammit. Ok, maybe the "proper" reactors have cadmium and graphite. :>

Hmmh? If zinc has a 0.133nm radius, then where does the 0.5nm average radius of atoms come from? Are the heavier elements so much wider? I'm not sure about other pages/books, but whenever I've found info about atoms, it says that the average is about 0.5nm

Doing everything the hard way is the right way.

You don't want to put too much though, if you're firing a mortar it may A) blow it apart B) snuff out the fuse. You might wanna try that with a mortar filled with flour or something, and see how high it flies. And then you can calculate how much delay you need for it to explode when it's at the highest point. If you're even making mortars at all, that is.

Ooh, shiny glassware. Pretty cheap too. But once again, location: USA. >:/

Hmmh. I remembered that nitrogen has a higher boiling point than O. Apparently, it's about 10 C lower or so. Liquid oxygen would indeed be interesting.

As I said, it's boiling point is higher, so it's better for cooling than water because it doesn't evaporate so easily. That's one reason.

Well, at least it's fun to bet your friend for 5€ or so for "will the ice cube sink or not". And for cooling, it has a higher boiling point. And by the way, the cooling rods (usually cobalt or so) are a nuclear reactor's actual moderators. The D2O is just for the cooling I guess, not to moderate the chain reaction.

I've heard about a theory where (as MadScientist stated) consciousness lies in the very, very sub-atomic levels, and can actually do superposition (which means existing at two places at the same time), which would explain "expanded consciousness". Does anyone know more about it?

"H2O2 --> H2O --> D2O" Errr... Do you mean H2O2 + H2O = D2O? I can't see that happening, since you had to make a neutron out of somewhere and have it accompany the lonely proton of the hydrogen-1 to make it hydrogen-2. "but why is D2O any better than H2O?" It's... heavy. It's fun to A) cool reactors with it, as you said B) make ice cubes out of it (it sinks in water, hence the name heavy water). Heavy water is a great addition to any element collection. It's not even hazardous (at least not too hazardous), and not radioactive like tritium. "Not to spoil anybodys fun but read forum info by blike." Piranha bath? Yes, bud stated that it's rather dangerous (and it has been stated several times that it reacts violently and dissolves your freaking hand in a couple of seconds. ).

"Yo, neighbor! What the hell do you need that 1,000 gallon barrel of nitrogen for?"

If a chemical reaction doesn't have the capability to blow off four limbs and at least 3/4 of your face, it's not worth trying. The sand or a proper brush is fine, but if you do something with a compound that has a nasty habit of sticking onto things, maybe some sort of acid is a better option.

From gas providers. Or companies that do welding/provide welding equipment. A good example is the Messer Company. Try cooling your computer with some liquid N if you get some.

Hmm... I think it's the impurities that form the fumes. And when the fume is gone, the impurities are gone. Edit: Whoopsie! Of course, if dense fumes start appearing in the early parts of boiling, they're probably some impurity crap, but if they appear in the later part, they are most likely H2O + SO3. So when the H2O + SO3 starts to fume out, you've got yourself some damn conc. acid.

"piranha bat"... I think I'm not going to sleep well tonight. *shivers* Hehe, no, just kidding. Tpyo is on laughnig mttaer. I've heard that piranha bath is good for cleaning test tubes, I'd recommend H2SO4 though. And you can dissolve someone you hate in a bath tub of it! Or, you could smite a nearby pine table with it (pour some extra for ol' Gilded ).

How can you tell there's just not enough food in Transylvania? ----- Answer: Vampires search the trash cans for used tampons.

How are you gentlemen. All your base... ehh, I mean hello. I've been around for a while (as you may have noticed), but I'm still a forum noob and I haven't exactly posted anything in this thread... So, hi. I'm from Finland (no, we don't have polar bears here!), and I'm usually rather bitchy about it, since it sucks to live here and I'm planning to move to the U.S. or UK as soon as I can. My favourite area of science is chemistry (especially radiochemistry), and I found the Oh-So-Magnificent Science Forums when I searched more info about the Radioactive Boyscout-case. I think there was a thread about it in the chemistry forum, and so, here I am.

After taking a detour through element collecting, red mercury and such, perhaps we indeed need to get back on topic. Sooo... Anyone made any piranha bath lately?

Just boiling it until the white fumes disappear and then storing it into a glass bottle (with a glass cap?) is just fine, I guess.

Ok, so the crystal structure causes the light to ricochet around and makes the diamond act as a prism. That's one effect you won't notice too much since diamonds are usually damn small (I have a greenish one that I bought for about 10€ that's almost too small to be seen without a magnifying glass ). But I (and pulkit) still don't have an explanation why some things are transparent/clear and some are not. :|

With "we", I meant everyone else than FBI etc. if it's really such a material as I have described. And the reason we don't know, is most likely A) There's no such thing as red mercury (at least not the kind that can be a fission device substitute) or B) The _GOVERNMENT_ doesn't want the public to know about it.