Gallium and Safey

[alan2here]

I always though Gallium was perfectly safe. However just as I look it up on ebay to buy some I find this.

 

http://www.acialloys.com/msds/ga.html

 

Anything there that could be a problem with handling it?

 

It's a metal, can it really catch fire?

 

This guy is going on a lot about his metal being so unique, however is this not a similar behavior to gallium?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160177584795&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

[insane_alien]

gallium is pretty safe. or at least it has never caused enough harm for some to onclusively say it was gallium.

 

just use normal precautions and don't store it near any of the substances in the 'incompatibles' list.

 

the guys metal alloy sounds an awful lot like woods metal. it is far from unique but it does behave similarly to gallium.

[alan2here]

Oxygen could be tricky.

 

Edit: Ahh, it says it's ok in oxygen that is in air.

 

Thanks :¬)

 

None on ebay :¬(

[imp]

Gallium Arsenide has been in use since the earliest times of transistor development, as a "doping" agent when making semiconductors. Therefore very much of that material has undoubtedly found its way into the environment.

 

FWIW. imp

[Riogho]

This is totally in the wrong section

[tvp45]

I always though Gallium was perfectly safe. However just as I look it up on ebay to buy some I find this.

 

http://www.acialloys.com/msds/ga.html

 

Anything there that could be a problem with handling it?

 

It's a metal, can it really catch fire?

 

This guy is going on a lot about his metal being so unique, however is this not a similar behavior to gallium?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160177584795&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

 

I think all metals can burn. I've seen sodium, aluminum, magnesium, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, lead, and probably something else that I can't remember.

 

If you handle most metals, don't put your hands in your mouth or rub your eyes. Wash your hands afterwards.

[insane_alien]

yeah, all metals can burn but it usually takes extreme conditions for that to happen. and often an oxidiser other than air.

[YT2095]

thread moved.

[alan2here]

Is there anywhere that sells it at cheaper that this?

http://www.goodfellow.com/scripts/web.wl?MGWLPN=MNT&PROG=SEARTOW&LAN=E&HEAD=GA00&SPAGE=GA00

 

Shockingly the g seems to stand for grams.

 

Where is this moved? Chemistry?

[YT2095]

it`s in General Chem, yes.

 

you`re seeing the Redirect

[alan2here]

TY, I put it in physics as it is it's physical properties I am interested in, however I agree yes it is more a chemistry thing.

 

I think for price reasons I will have to stick with the inferour yet much cheaper woods metal.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Woods-Metal-Ingot-100-grams-mp158-F_W0QQitemZ160177579062QQihZ006QQcategoryZ413QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[martianxx]

i heard that gallium was reasonably safe yet you need to take some care and precautions while handleing it. May i ask what you are going to do with the gallium, just interested

[nitroglycol]

I recall reading somewhere that while gallium is generally benign, it is handled with particular care when being transported by air. The problem is, if it were sitting in a hot plane on a tarmac for a few hours, and wasn't properly contained, it could melt and start to alloy with the fuselage skin, creating a weak spot which could have spectacular results when the aircraft is pressurized at high altitude.

[John Cuthber]

Last I heard air transport of Ga was simply banned to avoid this problem.

[Melvin]

I'm not sure about gallium. I know iron, in the form of steel wool, can burn easily in air after being lit with a match. Also, according to Wikipedia, excessive gallium exposure has been connected to dermatitis.

 

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

[jdurg]

Last I heard air transport of Ga was simply banned to avoid this problem.

 

Same thing with mercury, I believe. Air-transport just simply isn't allowed.

 

Gallium can form some strange alloys with reactive metals which could make it quite readily able to burn in air, but then it wouldn't be the Ga burning. It would be whatever it was alloyed with.

 

Also, don't take MSDS sheets too seriously. What they state is generally true, but they don't indicate the likelyhood of something happening. They just indicate what could happen if the conditions are right. In many cases they'll indicate something horrific that a substance could do, but they don't tell you that it would require other conditions that would be just as bad, or even worse for you, than what the substance could wind up doing.