Ammonium Dichromate

[MulderMan]

I want to make a volcano, but not one like vinegar and baking soda. So my chem teacher recomended using Ammonium Dichromate and she said it will be hard to get hold of and may give you cancer? So how would i make ammonium dichromate and is it really risky?

[YT2095]

yes it is risky and a known carcinogen and mutagen, sadly it would be easier to buy it that it would be to procure the needed materials to make it

[MulderMan]

ill leave that one alone then. its just sometimes i have to check cos the teachers tell me lies so i dont do anything.

[budullewraagh]

the decomposition reaction actually isnt terribly dangerous; see the following link, which is a .asx video of the (NH4)2Cr2O7 decompositon reaction:

http://boyles.sdsmt.edu/dichrom/AmmoniumDichromate.asx

 

a quote from a random website:

"given acid, chrome plating, and a source of ammonia"

apparently those types of matter will help you synthesize (NH4)2Cr2O7

 

check this out for some info:

http://www.colutron.com/products/chargeprep.html

 

more info, but this is more on the topic:

 

B02 Ammonium Dichromate Volcano

Description

Ammonium dichromate is set off by igniting a paper towel which has been soaked in ethanol. A voluminous green chromium(III) oxide ash is thrown out of the pile of dichromate with bright sparks. This experiment is shown twice--once in the dark and once in normal light. The ash is very toxic because some carcinogenic chromium(VI) is not reduced to chromium(III) before it is expelled from the hot center of the reaction.

 

Equation

(NH4)2Cr2O7 --> N2 + 4 H2O + Cr2O3

 

Reference

B. Z. Shakhashiri, "Chemical Demonstrations", Vol. 1, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison ,Wisconsin, (1983) p.81.

 

 

 

 

as for a synthesis, it would be difficult to figure one out with household materials, considering i've never seen a source of chromium for sale. just ask your chem teacher to order some.

[YT2095]

electrolysis of chrome plated materials will give a small quantity of an impure Chromium salt, this can then be displaced to improve the purity, but it seriously is a long haul and hardly worth doing unless your DESPERATE!

as for the risk, it`s from the raw unburnt material, setting fire to it isn`t the harmful part!

[MulderMan]

i might just ask the chem teacher to demonstrate it in a fume cupboard one day, shes always open to suggestions. on thursday we got the geiger-muller counter out and ABG radioactive elements, the only one i can remember is americium and thats gamma right? well i think thats the best. to be honest i thought schools wernet allowed to carry anything radioactive, and you have to be atleast 16 to be exposed?

[YT2095]

it`s not a carcinogen/mutagen due to radiation, anymore than cigarettes are

 

Americium 241 is an Alpha particle emitter, there`s no Gamma

[MulderMan]

must be getting it mixed up with a different one then. hmm do you know any gamma elements that a school would use to refresh my memory? i can remember the gamma one being in a lead box inside another lead box. and is it true that when uranium made U-235 it is actually lead? this isotope thing it a bit unclear still. i would try your homemade reactor in another post but ill need to get my hands on an second hand geiger meter first.

[YT2095]

when I was at sk00l before any of these new regs, we had alsorts in lead boxes, incl Radium, Uranium etc....

both of these are gamma emitters

[blike]

lol, uranium in a classroom? that would never happen these days.

[YT2095]

I know, bummer huh!

we used to use it to keep our school dinners warm! (just kiddin).

 

seriously though, we had a parents night and we`de set up all different chem experiments throught all the 4 Labs and one one was on radiation, we had several isotopes a tape measure and a geiger counter hooked up to a frequency counter for a hits count, we were often left unattended at this stall just waiting for parents to pass by an veiw this! it was great fun, we even put some over a bunsen burner just for a laugh saying it was goint to make a Nuclear bomb and scared the crap of of this really irritating kid. cruel and mad I know, but lotsa fun

[budullewraagh]

woah, that's crazy.

 

as a joke earlier this year, my chem teacher showed us how radioactive she was using a geiger counter. of course it's only because she had swallowed some Co 60 for a thyroid test, but still, it was quite amusing. the only radioactive materials we have in school emit alpha and beta particles, but hey, i feel a bit more safe:\

[MulderMan]

at the risk of sounding imature i will keep that cool remark i was going to use to myself . but seriously uramium and plutonium has fascinated me for years, the years after i realised it isnt glowing neon green like on the simposns but a beatiful silver element that tarnishes gold like in oxygen.i heard you can find uramium in mines in cornwall? but what is the possesion laws? and how would it be safe lol, how many lead roof tiles would i need... i remember going to wales a few month back near were the nuclear power station was and i took a pH sample of the water in the lake and it was extremely low. i think my parents get a bit too woried these days, carrying lab/test equiptment on holiday.

[MulderMan]

yes we all scanned each other with the gieger counter and quite amusing it was. i managed to get upto 0.5 somewere around my liver.