Gallium on Glas (Next to no chemistry knowledge)

[emha]

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding Gallium and I know very little about chemistry, so I was hoping this forum could help me out.

I have spread a relatively thin layer of gallium across a flat piece of glass, creating a small mirror. I then used a hot-air gun and different settings (the highest being 300°C) and applied heat to small areas of the glass for a maximum of 2 minutes (directly on the side with the layer of gallium). I was hoping for the gallium to form a little droplet and drip down, leaving just the glass at those specific points. This did not happen at all. You could see it liquefy but there was always a layer of gallium still on the glass. Even after applying heat for almost 2 minutes from about 2 -3 cm distance to the glass. 

I tried the same experiment with a piece of 5mm PVC glass, hoping it wouldn't stick to the material as much (this time with only 100°C and from about 15-20cm distance as I was afraid to melt the PVC). But the result was the same.

My question is, if there is any material I could use to get the desired effect (gallium dripping down in specific heated areas), or a material that gallium sticks to while solid, but not when liquefied.

An idea I had was adding iron dust or something similar to the gallium, trying to make it magnetic, in order to be able to add more force to it and pull the liquid gallium down. I don't know if this could work or makes any sense at all, but I thought I'd mention it.

I hope I've explained, what I am trying to do well enough and someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

Edited June 12, 2018 by emha