Things to do with Bismuth?

[RyanJ]

Hi there all you chemistry fans!

 

I remember a few years ago I bought a large "lump" of Bismuth in crystaline form.

 

I have reently added a smaller piece to my mineral collection and so, I want to know if there is something the amature chemist can do with it? The lump is about 40 Grams incase you were wondering

 

As long as it does not involve something explosive or very, very toxic and as long as it does not vreak the forum rules (For your sake and mine) then please post your suggestions!

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Lance]

Bismuth crystals and diamagnetism are the two most notable.

[The Thing]

Diamagnetic Levitation! Fun stuff.

Small levitations require very precise measurements, so you need to be a bit patient.

I've seen one diamagnetism experiment involving Bismuth that was pretty violent, but I'll refrain from mentioning it here since it has the force to knock a hole in your roof.

[RyanJ]

I've seen one diamagnetism experiment involving Bismuth that was pretty violent' date=' but I'll refrain from mentioning it here since it has the force to knock a hole in your roof.[/quote']

 

Sounds pretty powerful....

 

 

What is Diamagnetic Levitation anyway?

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[The Thing]

You MAY have misunderstood me, but the bismuth itself isn't that powerful to destroy your house. In the experiment there's also a very strong current creating a very strong magnetic field involved, but again, it being dangerous, you shouldn't really do it. I personally have never done that, and so I can't really give you any first-hand advice. The wiser and more knowledgeable chem experts in this forum can help you there.

 

As for diamagnetic levitation, here are some sources:

http://www.otherpower.com/newmaglev.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetic

[woelen]

Dissolve some bismuth metal in conc. HNO3 and dilute this liquid 10 times. This leaves you with a colorless liquid of acidic bismuth nitrate (and probably also with some precipitate of basic bismuth nitrate). Dissolving the bismuth may take a long time. After the initial fast reaction, the reaction slows down very much and quite some heating may be required, or quite some patience. Set aside the metal in acid for a few days at a safe place, where no children or animals can touch the stuff.

 

With the solution, you can form quite remarkable bismuth-halogen complexes with nice colors.

 

This is a fairly safe experiment. Only the dissolving of bismuth in conc. HNO3 is fairly dangerous, because of the corrosive nature of conc. HNO3. Bismuth, although being a heavy metal, is only marginally toxic.

 

The experiments are given here:

 

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/exps/Bi+halogen/index.html

[olmpiad]

Try to see how many impurities the Bi needs before it is awful at crystallizing (You could use lead, for example).