Element collecting

[boris_73]

well thats crap then give me ceasium anyday is francium even a metal because in that website it looked like a white powder

[Gilded]

Yes, francium is a metal. But when you have 1/10 attogram of metal in some sort of oxalate powder, you can't really see it's metal. Francium, radon and astatine are an element collector's nightmare. :>

[boris_73]

i think i will leave francium alone and go for ceasium do you know where to get some cheap ceasium

[budullewraagh]

cesium chloride can be found at the al-chymist's site. just do electrolysis on it and you'll have your cesium metal

[5614]

the problem with francium is that the longest lived isotope, Fr233 has a half life of only 22 minutes.

 

Caesium is not made by the same method as sodium as might have been expected. This is because the caesium metal' date=' once formed by electrolysis of liquid caesium chloride (CsCl), is too soluble in the molten salt.

 

cathode: Cs+(l) + e- --> Cs (l) anode: Cl-(l) --> 1/2Cl2 (g) + e-

 

Instead, it is made by the reaction of metallic sodium with hot molten caesium chloride.

 

Na + CsCl <--> Cs + NaCl

 

This is an equilbrium reaction and under these conditions the caesium is highly volatile and removed from the system in a form relatively free from sodium impurities, allowing the reaction to proceed. It can be purified by distillation.

[/quote']cesium products: (just some jokes!)

Cesium Crispies (snap, crackle, Kaboom!!!)

Cesium Condoms (for a bang-up good time)

[budullewraagh]

what the hell? that's mildly amusing, but im not so sure why

[5614]

yeah, i liked the cesium crispies, im guessing that rice crispies are a work wide thing, if not in the UK rice crispies are really famous and there catch phrase is 'snap, crackle and pop' after the sound of them in milk..... 'snap, crackle... KABOOM!' is quite funny when you think about it

 

what electrode would you use for electrolysis of CsCl ? because couldnt you get a reaction occuring between the Cs and the cathode?

[Gilded]

Argh, we have Rice Crispies here too (here it's "riks, raks, poks" ).

[Gilded]

By the way, an important thing in element collection is price comparing. Now then, let's see...

 

http://www.thebulliondesk.com - for noble (and other precioussss... metals)

 

Gas companies: To see, for example, if you have any reason in buying a small ampoule of helium for a price you could get many liters of the same purity, for a cheaper price.

 

Your local hardware store: If you can get relatively pure common metals from a hardware store, you might want to consider them instead of a more expensive version.

 

This thread: You might want to ask "Should I buy 2g of rhodium for 50 bucks?" or something like that. (Btw, if you find 2g of rhodium for 50 bucks, go for it. :> )

[boris_73]

ok where abouts is the metal in smoke detectors and how do you know what metal it is

[budullewraagh]

im not going to tell you.

 

have fun unfolding your mRNA

[MulderMan]

the ionisation chamber. make sure you dont get it out of a smoke detector in your house though! but considering the chances there would be no batteries in it...

[Gilded]

The smoke detector ionization chamber is a wonderful source of elements; americium-241 and neptunium-239, that is. It's also usually made of palladium or gold (or plated with, at least), so there's another element for you.

 

"have fun unfolding your mRNA"

 

Low gamma activity + alpha that doesn't even pierce your skin's dead layer shouldn't be a problem. Just don't inhale or eat alpha emitters, they're not fun when they're in your body (not that they are particularly funny even outside your body).

[budullewraagh]

youd better hope that the neptunium isnt 238...ever. btw, the half life of 239 is 2.355 days...i believe you have the wrong isotope

[boris_73]

has anybody else taken these elements out of a smoke detector

[Gilded]

Whoopsiedaisies. I of course meant isotope 237. Silly me. Quite a long half-life it has, over 2 million years. So even after all the americium from the smoke detector is gone, there'll still be lots of neptunium going on.

[budullewraagh]

i strongly advise you to keep that neptunium away from neutron sources. don't leave your alpha sources near beryllium (which you probably dont have) and/or aluminum (which you probably do have), and dont let those neutrons come near your neptunium unless you wish to have your mRNA unfold

[5614]

has anybody else taken these elements out of a smoke detector

yes quite a few people use this a good source of radioactive materials.

 

basically dont play with neutron radiation. (which includes putting alpha sources near certain metals which causes em to release neutron e.g. beryllium)

[boris_73]

ill just put them in a glass vial

[Gilded]

"ill just put them in a glass vial"

 

You mean the smoke detector ionization chamber? Yes, a glass vial would probably do it since it doesn't emit terrible levels of gamma, and the alpha won't get through the glass.

[YT2095]

Actualy, I don`t know what all the fuss is about?

 

I`ve had my Am241 in alu foil at the base of a plant for well over 5 months now, the plants has shown NO SIGN of illness or alteration and grows and produces fruit (chilis) just the same as it`s other brothers and sisters

 

it may emit neutrons, but certainly NOT on the scale as is being made out here, it`s quite fine to make and handle for short periods, just don`t swallow it!

[Gilded]

"just don`t swallow it! :)"

 

If there's something to be told about radiochemistry, that's not swallowing alpha-radiators.

 

"I`ve had my Am241 in alu foil at the base of a plant for well over 5 months now"

 

First of all, you would have to take all of the Am-241 from about 100 detectors (as David Hahn did) for it to be even a visible amount of the substance itself, it's a very minimal amount that's in the detectors. Second, aluminum is a rather crappy neutron emitter, beryllium is WAY better. Third, the neutrons might be moving too fast to be absorbed by the atoms in the plant.

 

Something to try: Mix (even a tiny amount) of polonium-209 with beryllium. Neutron radiation to the max, I say. That should turn YT's chilis into flesh eating megabeasts of doomsday. Or then just kill them. :< By the way, which species do you grow? I'd be more than pleased to taste some homegrown chili if I ever visit England.

[YT2095]

I have 42 plants spread over 6 types, from Marconi long reds to Jalapenos

I have a few californian, some Bangalor Torpedos, a few Medusa, and one I can`t identify yet.

sorry 7 types, I have a 5`th generation Ornamental, that`s now edible due to several years of cross pollination

 

^^^ Sorry Off Topic I know ^^^

[Gilded]

Back to element collecting:

I will try to list here good providers of elements, whenever I can and get experience about them. RGB seems to be very nice (they delivered the iridium pellet to Finland in 3 days, and one day was the delay of the notice arriving!), and I have ordered from http://www.seltenerden.de though that delivery hasn't arrived yet (two packets, one from Austria and one from Germany).

 

Back to offtopic:

 

Have you tested your chilis on the Scoville scale? I bet you are familiar with that. Which is the strongest one on the scale you have? For comparison, jalapeno is usually 3000-8000 and pure capsaicin is something near 16x10^6 if someone didn't know.

[YT2095]

the Bangalor Torpedos are by far the "hottest" thus far, at least 3X the Jalapenos, Scots Bonnet is next years project, even hotter than that

 

back to the Elements though, it might be a good idea to collate all the sources in this thread and make a decisive index in a different thread, if someone wants the job of doing this, we`de all be gratefull, and I`ll set the thread up as a block text for element collecting and maybe make it sticky in the chem forum (depends how good it is and whether Greg likes the idea).

 

make a good comprehensive list for reveiw, mail it to us, and we`ll take it from there.

 

it could be a good resource for all of us Chem types