elementcollector1 Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 Well, I was bored one day two years back, and had just started collecting the elements of the Periodic Table. I read up on as many as I could, to get a better sense of how to make each one if possible. Then, as my head slowly became crammed with knowledge, I found I needed a place to put it all down so I could remember it. Thus, this guide was born. Before you start reading it, however, be sure to read the following. -If you know a simpler method of getting an element (other than buying it outright from a chemical supplier), then by all means, tell me! -Quite a few radioactive elements are discussed here, so if you're the kind of person who instantly gets chills up their spine when reading the word RADIOACTIVE, then I give you permission to leave now. You have been warned. That being said, on with the guide! 0.1 Thermite Reactions Normally, people do thermite reactions in twoflowerpots stacked on top of eachother, but I have discovered an easier way.What you have to do is commence the reaction in a new cooking pot, with ananodized layer of aluminium oxide on the surface of both the pot and the lid.This ensures that no metal can escape by creating a temporary vacuum inside thepot which holds it together while the reaction occurs. (Just make sure to closethe thing as soon as you start, and that your lid is NOT glass, which willbreak.) To do a thermite reaction, you take an oxide orhydroxide of a metal (e.g. iron, chromium, etc.) and powder it, combining itwith a powder of a reducing agent (usually aluminium, magnesium, or cryolite).Stick a magnesium fuse (4th of July sparklers are excellent forthis) into the mix, light it, and close the lid. When the pot has stoppedsmoking, and when you are able to open it, quickly pour some mineral oil in tostop oxidation. How it works: The oxygen separates from the metal at hightemperatures, and flows to the more reactive material (the reducing agent).When the mixture cools, this leaves the desired pure metal and a waste product. This will be explored a lot in this book, so referback to this section often. 0.2 Reactivity Series This chart comes in handy when learning about theextraction of elements from ores, as well as what to use for anodes andcathodes. Metal Ion Reactivity Extraction K K+ reacts with water electrolysis Na Na+ reacts with water electrolysis Li Li+ reacts with water electrolysis Sr Sr2+ reacts with water electrolysis Ca Ca2+ reacts with water electrolysis Mg Mg2+ reacts with acid electrolysis Al Al3+ reacts with acids electrolysis Zn Zn2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Cr Cr2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Fe Fe2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Cd Cd2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Co Co2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Ni Ni2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Sn Sn2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Pb Pb2+ reacts with acids smeltingwith coke Cu Cu2+ may react with oxidizing acids heat/ physical extraction Ag Ag+ may react with oxidizing acids heat/ physical extraction Hg Hg2+ may react with oxidizing acids heat/ physical extraction Au Au3+ may react with oxidizing acids heat/ physical extraction Pt Pt2+ may react with oxidizing acids heat/ physical extraction 0.3 Pyrophorics These guys just love to go up in flames when incontact with air. To prevent this, store them under mineral oil, a cheap andeasily available product. § Alkalimetals (sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium) § Finelydivided metals (iron, magnesium, calcium, zirconium, titanium, bismuth, hafnium, osmium) § Lead § Phosphorus (white,or yellow) Storing method: This must be used directly after your thermitereactions, and cannot be used for rubidium or cesium. This works mainly for thealkali metals. Take a bowl filled with a small amount ofwater. Put some mineral oil on top, to float on the surface. Place yourmetal-rich waste product in the bowl. How it works: The product is placed into the water, wherethe alkali metal begins to react with the water (while the waste does not).However, alkali metals are so light that they are less dense than water, andwill float up to the mineral oil, ending the reaction and separating them fromthe waste products. This is not completely efficient, as some of the metal islost, but it is the best way to store the metal, as it will already be coatedin a layer of mineral oil, making it easy to drop it in a test tube full ofmore oil and end the process there. 0.4Flame Test An important tool in determining thecomposition of a compound, the flame test relies on the color differentelements give to a Bunsen burner flame. WoodenSplint or Cotton Swab Method Wooden splints or cotton swabs offer an inexpensive alternative to wire loops.To use wooden splints, soak them overnight in distilled water. Pour out thewater and rinse the splints with clean water, being careful to avoidcontaminating the water with sodium (as from sweat on your hands). Take a dampsplint or cotton swab that has been moistened in water, dip it in the sample tobe tested, and wave the splint or swab through the flame. Do not hold thesample in the flame as this would cause the splint or swab to ignite. Use a newsplint or swab for each test. Howto Interpret the Results The sample isidentified by comparing the observed flame color against known values from atable or chart. Red Carmine to Magenta: Lithium compounds. Masked by barium or sodium. Scarlet or Crimson: Strontium compounds. Masked by barium. Red: Rubidium (unfiltered flame) Yellow-Red: Calcium compounds. Masked by barium. Yellow Gold: Iron Intense Yellow: Sodium compounds, even in trace amounts. A yellow flame is notindicative of sodium unless it persists and is not intensified by addition of1% NaCl to the dry compound. White Bright White: Magnesium White-Green: Zinc Green Emerald: Copper compounds, other than halides. Thallium. Bright Green: Boron Blue-Green: Phosphates, when moistened with H2SO4 or B2O3. Faint Green: Antimony and NH4 compounds. Yellow-Green: Barium, manganese(II), molybdenum. Blue Azure: Lead, selenium, bismuth, cesium, copper(I), CuCl2 and othercopper compounds moistened with hydrochloric acid, indium, lead. Light Blue: Arsenic and come of its compounds. Greenish Blue: CuBr2, antimony Purple Violet: Potassium compounds other than borates, phosphates, and silicates.Masked by sodium or lithium. Lilac to Purple-Red: Potassium, rubidium, and/or cesium in the presence ofsodium when viewed through a blue glass. Limitationsof the Flame Test The test cannot detect low concentrations of most ions. The brightness of the signal varies from one sample to another. For example, the yellow emission from sodium is much brighter than the red emission from the same amount of lithium. Impurities or contaminants affect the test results. Sodium, in particular, is present in most compounds and will color the flame. Sometimes a blue glass is used to filter out the yellow of sodium. The test cannot differentiate between all elements. Several metals produce the same flame color. Some compounds do not change the color of the flame at all. PrimaryReference: Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, 8th Edition, Handbook PublishersInc., 1952. Flame Test Colors Symbol Element Color As Arsenic Blue B Boron Bright green Ba Barium Pale/Yellowish Green Ca Calcium Orange to red Cs Cesium Blue Cu(I Copper(I) Blue Cu(II) Copper(II) non-halide Green Cu(II) Copper(II) halide Blue-green Fe Iron Gold In Indium Blue K Potassium Lilac to red Li Lithium Magenta to carmine Mg Magnesium Bright white Mn(II) Manganese(II) Yellowish green Mo Molybdenum Yellowish green Na Sodium Intense yellow P Phosphorus Pale bluish green Pb Lead Blue Rb Rubidium Red to purple-red Sb Antimony Pale green Se Selenium Azure blue Sr Strontium Crimson Te Tellurium Pale green Tl Thallium Pure green Zn Zinc Bluish green to whitish green 0.5Reverse Electroplating Reverse electroplating is what you can do to get anelectroplated substance off of another substance. This is highly useful for theplatinum group metals like rhodium, palladium, platinum, gold, and just aboutany other electroplated metal. To do this, you take a Pyrex glass container andfill it partway with sulfuric acid. Then, you attach a copper sheet (bent tocontain the jewelry) and alligator clip as an anode, and another alligator clipand sheet of copper (not bent, as much surface area in the acid as possible) toserve as a cathode. Run this at 9 or more volts of power, and after about fiveminutes you should start seeing a result. Either the copper sheet should turnsilver, or you should see a powder of the corresponding element in the coppersheet. 0.6 Acid Making For many of these reactions, you will need hydrochloricacid, a corrosive substance. The making of this is relatively simple, and onlyinvolves three reactants. However, a slightly complex setup is needed. To makehydrogen chloride, the gas that is responsible for the acid's properties, youadd sulfuric acid to table salt. Next, bubble this through distilled water toget hydrochloric acid. To make sulfuric acid, take copper sulfate (bluecrystals) and put them in water. Use the same method you would for electrolysis(carbon electrodes, like pencil lead) and electrolyze this solution to get amixture of copper and weak sulfuric acid. Filter out the copper, and boil theresult to get 75% H2SO4. Alternatively, both of theseacids are usually available on stores like McLendon's for relatively cheapprices, ($3.95 for 1 quart of 31.95% HCl at McLendon's) and much betterconcentrations. 0.7 Radioactivity If you're really serious about the wholeelement-collecting thing, a select few radioisotopes of actinides and such areavailable to the element hunter. For all radioactive elements, and I don't careif they only emit alpha radiation, store them in a preferablyhermetically-sealed (airtight) container, made entirely of lead. You should beable to make these with lead sheets, maybe from rooftop shingles? Anyway, weldthose together into small boxes or cubes, and store radioactive elements inthat. As with all dangerous processes you may undertake for this collection,rest assured that I am not liable in any way for whatever you do to yourself. 1. Hydrogen (H) Hydrogen,the first of the elements, is also one of the easiest to obtain through the useof simple chemistry. Hydrogen can be obtained through the use of electrolysisof salt water, or passing electricity through salt water. Materials: -Pure water (H2O) -Wire / battery -Container -2 test tubes -2 metal paperclips -Salt Procedure: 1) Get 2 test tubes: 1 for the Hydrogen, and 1 for the wasteproduct (oxygen and a small amount of chlorine gas). 2) Fill a container with pure water, NOTtap water. Put a large amount of salt in the water. 3) Set up your battery and wires, andput metal paperclips on the end of each wire. 4) Making sure the test tubes are filledcompletely with the water, put an end of a wire into a corresponding test tube. 5) The cathode will produce hydrogen,while the anode will produce the waste product. You can tell which is whichbecause since water has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen, the test tube containinghydrogen will fill up twice as fast. 6) When the test tube is full, lift itup (being careful not to let it be overturned, releasing all the hydrogen) putthe cap on it and seal it with duct tape. Congratulations! You have justcreated Hydrogen. Precautions:Hydrogen is explosive, as noted in the famous Hindenburg crash. Never, EVER getany fire near it. Thisreaction produces a small amount of chlorine gas, which can be poisonous. Usecaution. 2. Helium (He) The besteasy way to obtain this noble gas is to find a signmaker that sells "neon"lights. These lights are actually combinations of noble gases to make differentcolors. Pure helium is a peach, or light tan color in these lights, however,all of these gases are colorless without an electric current flowing through them.See the chart below for neon color signs: Helium Neon Argon Xenon Krypton - White 3. Lithium (Li) The lightestmetal known, lithium can actually float on water. Then it reacts with the waterto release hydrogen gas, which is the most exothermic (heat-releasing),although not the most rigorous of the alkali metals' reactions. Lithium iscommonly found in batteries, like an Energizer Lithium battery. For these lithium batteries, the process is a bit dangerous, but much morerewarding. For starters, peel off the plastic on the surface to reveal thesteel case. With pliers, pop off the release valve, negative terminal, andplastic casing at one end, revealing the core of the battery. Take this over toa fume hood, as some dangerous stuff (mostly liquid and gas) is going to beworked with. Unroll the outer covering like a roll of tape, revealing aprotective foamy-like inner casing. Unroll this, and in the center will be asteel mesh containing manganese dioxide, and under that is the lithium. Thereis quite a chunk of lithium in here for such a small battery, consisting of aone-and-a-half foot by 3-inch strip of pure lithium. Coil it back up, put itinside a test tube, and you now have your very own lithium. 4. Beryllium (Be) Beryllium isa toxic metal that, after too much exposure to the human body, causesberylliosis, which is fatal. It is also thought to be a carcinogen, so handlewith extreme care. This will involve a thermite reaction, with berylliumfluoride and magnesium metal. The ratios of substance are as follows. 2BeF3+ 3Mg -> 3MgF2 + 2Be 2 atoms ofBe + 6 atoms of F + 3 atoms of Mg -> 3 atoms of Mg + 6 atoms of F + 2 atomsof Be. For everyquantity of beryllium fluoride, you will get one quantity of beryllium metal.Simple, right? That also means there should be 3/2 the amount of magnesium ascompared to the beryllium fluoride. So if you had 50 grams of BeF3,you would correspondingly need 75 grams of Mg and obtain 50 grams of Be. Prettyeasy math. Take care,this is a dangerous metal to mess with. 5. Boron (B) Boron, anonmetal element, is used for tennis rackets due to it's light weight and highstrength. 6. Carbon © Carbon, the element known for creating the complex molecules that, in turn,make you, is also a very easy elementto find. After all, you write with it! Carbon is found in the mineral graphite(pictured above next to diamond, another form of carbon), which is used aspencil "lead". So break open your used pencils, and there you have it! Anotheruse for carbon you will be needing is the form named "coke". This is used oftento refine metals, and can be created by reacting sulfuric acid with tablesugar. 7. Nitrogen (N) Nitrogen,for me, was one of the most surprising elements to find, due to the fact thatit's just so easy, it's in the bag. Literally! Nitrogen is the stuff used toinflate chip bags. All you have to do is open one, stick a test tube full ofwater in (quickly, so the nitrogen doesn't escape) and cork it! Oh, and youprobably can't eat the chips afterward. (They'd be all soggy…eww….) 8. Oxygen (O) Oxygen is aslightly harder element to get in pure form than the ones we've covered so far.Then again, as the Table goes on, it will get slowly harder to get theelements. Oxygen can be made by combining manganese dioxide (the stuff in thelithium battery) and hydrogen peroxide (a mild antiseptic found at mostpharmacies). All you have to do is trap the resulting gas in a test tube, andyou're done! Hooray for chemistry. Note: You may havenoticed that I skip a few elements, such as fluorine. This is because there isno cheap or safe way to obtain those elements, or that the elements are toxic.Both are the case with fluorine, and besides, fluorine would destroy your testtube, due to its reaction with glass. 10. Neon (Ne) Neon is thesame deal as helium, only you would look for a reddish-orange color in yourneon light. See "Helium" (#2) for more detail. Another method is to break opena sodium vapor lamp, which contains 99% neon gas and 1% argon gas in aPenning's mixture. 11. Sodium (Na) Sodium is avery difficult element to obtain in pure form, as it easily reacts with air toform an oxide, and violently produces hydrogen gas when in contact with water.The easiest way is to react sodium hydroxide (aka lye) with magnesium powder(as finely ground as possible),with a long fuse of magnesium, bent upwards.This should be done inside a closed, steel area, such as a can with a lid or asteel pot. Afterwards, take a bowl of water and pour some mineral oil on top ofit. Drop your reacted mush inside, and watch as the sodium partially reacts.This removes waste products because the sodium-rich mush reacts with the water,but then floats to the top of the oil, ending the reaction and leaving you withchunks of pure sodium on top of the oil. Store this metal under mineral oil tokeep anything from happening to it, and most importantly, do this reactionOUTSIDE. Another waythat doesn't involve chemistry is to break open a sodium vapor lamp, whichcontains a small amount of sodium (in a mercury amalgam) and 99% neon gas.Sodium vapor lamps' more common name are streetlights, which light up the earthbright orange at night. Many havetried to electrolyze sodium chloride, but this does not work due to a) NaCl'shigh melting point of 800 degrees C, b) not having electrodes that produce waytoo much electricity or c) not having the correct electrodes. It is mucheasier, but more dangerous, to do a thermite with sodium hydroxide andmagnesium. Speaking of magnesium… 12. Magnesium (Mg) Magnesium iseasily available in pure form. Just go to the local Boy Scouts, camping store,or Target ™ and find a Magnesium sparker. These are used to start fires. If youwant a cheaper alternative, find a plastic, prism pencil sharpener that looksslightly darker than aluminum. This is because some sharpeners are made ofmagnesium, and some of aluminum. Once you think you have magnesium, pour alittle vinegar on it. If it bubbles and produces hydrogen gas, it's magnesium.If not, aluminum. To makeMagnesium powder, you will need a hacksaw, a clamp, and a chunk of Magnesium,or a steel file and a chunk. Simply start cutting into or scraping the chunk,and powder will start forming (along the line of the blade, on the floor). Justscrape this into a container, and you can use this for all sorts of fun andentirely unnecessary explosions. For thermites involving this, it is necessaryto use a fuse. So what I recommend is to cut a thin strip of Mg, and collectthe powder you make. 13. Aluminum (Al) Probably theeasiest element to find in this book, all you have to do is go to your kitchenand get a piece of aluminum foil, known alternatively as tinfoil (though no tinis present in current aluminum foil). That's really all you have to do. Also,for some of the later reactions in this book you will need aluminum powder. Tomake this, you will need a few items. These are aluminum foil, steel shot(spheres, available in most magnetic toys like Magnetix), and a blender or rocktumbler. Rip the aluminum to shreds, and fill your blender/tumbler ½ full ofthese. Add a bit of steel shot to fill the thing to ¾ full, and let the blenderdo its magic until you get a fine powder. If you're using a tumbler, let runfor about 1-2 weeks to get the desired result. 14. Silicon (Si) This elementis used in computer chips. So ask your dad if he has any old motherboards orother computer circuitry, and chances are there will be a silicon chip inthere. Alternatively, you could crack open a solar panel, or visit SiliconValley in California. Silicon's pretty cheap over there. 15. Phosphorus (P) To get redphosphorus, the safe form of this element, you will need quite a few matchboxes(NOT the matches), 100% pure Acetone, which can be found at most hardware orpaint stores, a scraper, a filter, and a few other odds and ends. First, cutthe red, usually hexagonal-patterned strikers off of the matchboxes. Then, dumpthese into a cup or shot glass, and pour the acetone in until it covers the topof the strikers, and stir it vigorously. Ever heard that chemistry is likecooking, and vice versa. Well, it is. After you are sure that all the redphosphorus has come off of the strikers (you may have to scrape some off intothe acetone, so wear some heavy gloves), decant this into a filter. This leavesmostly pure red phosphorus, with some acetone, paper, and glue still in it. Toget rid of all this, place your red phosphorus powder into a Pyrex container,and place this in a pot and fill with water until the Pyrex is submerged. Bringthis to boiling, and leave it there for a while to get rid of the rest of theimpurities. Dry this in another filter to get ultra-pure red phosphorus. Precautions:Acetone's fumes are caustic, meaning they will harm organic matter (i.e. you)upon contact. 16. Sulfur (S) This shouldbe fun. If you live near a geyser, or are taking a trip to see one, look aroundthe geyser and in the nearby ground for small, lemon-yellow opaque crystals.This is pure sulfur, and on the way, you get to see rock and hot water goingKABOOM!! Another, more available way is to find it on the top ofstrike-anywhere matches, in pyrotechnics compositions and black powder. 17. Chlorine (Cl) An easy wayto obtain chlorine is to drop a 9V battery in heavily salted water. The reasonyou get pure chlorine from this is that the positive end forms iron oxide (iron+ oxygen from water) and chlorine gas, and the negative forms hydrogen.Alternatively, a few other reactions in this book will produce chlorine, so ifthe battery fails, try these. You can tell only chlorine is being produced if aterminal of the battery is rusting. Put 5 or 6 batteries into a beaker ofwater, and put a funnel on top for the best results. Chlorine should begreenish as a gas. 18. Argon (Ar) While argonis a noble gas, and glows purple when used in "neon" lights, there is another,easier way to obtain argon: Just find a dead light bulb. Light bulbs are filledwith argon instead of air, so that the bulb burns cleaner and brighter. 19. Potassium (K) A moredangerous element due to its violent reaction with water, potassium can beobtained through the electrolysis of molten caustic potash (KOH). KOH's meltingpoint is 680 degrees F, and it is commonly found in drain cleaners. Search forEnforcer Maximum Strength Drain Opener to find a KOH solution, usually athardware stores like McLendon's or Home Depot. Boil this down (outside!) to getpure KOH. Alternatively,you can heat sodium metal with potassium chloride (known as Murate of Potash atany grocery store) to 850 degrees Celsius to reduce it to gaseous potassium andliquid sodium chloride, which can then be collected and distilled. Precautions: Potassiumactually reacts with the water vapor in air, so store it under oil. "Caustic"means it will BURN YOUR SKIN OFF. Take extreme precautions when dealing withpotassium hydroxide. 20. Calcium (Ca) The stuffthat makes your teeth, calcium is a moderately difficult element to isolate. Anotherthermite, this one requires plaster (of Paris, presumably) and aluminum powder.Combine these and heat with a fuse of magnesium, and you get calcium metal. 21. Scandium (Sc) Scandiumisn't very well-known, but the easiest way to obtain it is through theelectrolysis of scandium chloride, which will release Scandium metal andChlorine gas, which is a poison. 22. Titanium (Ti) Titanium issometimes used in cooking equipment due to its light weight and strength,especially in backpacking cooking equipment. Once again, Boy Scouts comes inhandy. Alternatively,you can use a complex thermite reaction between titanium dioxide, aluminum,drywall plaster, and maybe ground fluorite powder, and pick out the lumps oftitanium metal afterwards. 23. Vanadium (V) Vanadium canbe obtained through a highly dangerous thermite reaction with Vanadiumpentoxide (a poison) and magnesium, with a fuse of magnesium ribbon and abarrier. The chemical reaction and quantities are listed below: V2O5+ 5Mg -> 5 MgO + 2V For everyquantity of vanadium pentoxide, you need five times that amount of magnesium,and will get 5 quantities of magnesium oxide and 2 quantities of vanadiummetal. Huzzah! I am notresponsible for your injuries, however I am responsible for telling you how todo this correctly. To read about thermite reactions, see page 0.1. 24. Chromium (Cr) Who wants todo some super-dangerous chemistry? Come on, raise your hands, you know you wantto. To get pure chromium, you have to use a thermite reaction. This involveschromium oxide (III) powder, and aluminum as the oxide-reducing agent (inpowder form). Add a strip of magnesium as the fire-starter, a metal surfaceunderneath, light, and run away! When the container is no longer shootingsparks or smoking, let it cool, harden, and pick out the chunks of Chromiumfrom the rest. It should be especially shiny! Here's your chemical equation: 2Cr2O3+ 3Al -> 4Cr + 3AlO2 Ratio: 2Cr2O3:3 Al = 4Cr : 3 AlO2. 25. Manganese (Mn) Through thesame process as many metals, Manganese can be obtained through a thermitereaction of Manganese Dioxide (MnO2). Use either aluminum or Coke (aform of carbon, produced by adding sulfuric acid to sugar) at a 1:2 ratio ofMnO2 to C/Al, respectively. Make sure to AVOID AT ALL COSTS the gasproduced by this reaction, if you end up using coke. It is carbon monoxide, awell-known toxin, so do this outside. Dig out the Manganese metal nuggetsafterwards. Just remember, thermite reactions are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Use caution, have parent supervision,and remember to record it on videotape. It will be quite the explosive memory… 26. Iron (Fe) You knowthose handwarmers that people use to warm up on a cold day? Well, those containiron powder, which slowly oxidizes and releases heat in the process. So grab ahandwarmer and melt the iron out from the rest (a mixture of vermiculite andactivated carbon) 27. Cobalt (Co) Yep, anotherthermite reaction. Cobalt oxide (II), aluminum, magnesium ribbon, 30-feet blastradius…You know the drill. Chemical equation: Co3O4+ 2Al -> 3Co + 2AlO2 For everyquantity of cobalt oxide, you need twice that of aluminum powder and will getthree times that in cobalt metal, and two times the amount of cobalt oxide inaluminum oxide. 28. Nickel (Ni) If you'reCanadian, this'll be easy! If not, it'll be a bit difficult. To obtain nickel,find a Canadian dime dated 1969 to 1999, and it's made of pure nickel. And youget ten cents! 29. Copper (Cu) Rememberthose wires you used for Hydrogen, and maybe Sodium/Chlorine? Cut off a bit,and strip the outer rubber off. You'll be left with pure copper wire. 30. Zinc (Zn) One of myfavorite, this involves a recently dated U.S. penny and a bit of hard work. Youcan use sandpaper, or a concrete surface, but rub the penny against these. Keepat it until the whole thing is silver-colored, and there you have it: A disc ofpure zinc. 31. Gallium (Ga) Gallium isanother extremely hard-to-get element, and the best way I have found so far isto order a sample of sodium gallate from a chemical supplier's catalog, andelectrolyze it. Sodium gallate is an acid, so take care. 32. Germanium (Ge) Germaniumrequires you to find a 1N34A Germanium diode. Break it open to get theGermanium semiconductor crystal within. 34. Selenium (Se) To start theprocess of obtaining Selenium, first obtain selenium dioxide (from a chemicalcatalog). Mix this with water, turning it into selenous acid. This is bubbledwith sulfur dioxide (see germanium above for production of this) to produceelemental selenium. 35. Bromine (Br) One of justtwo liquid elements, Bromine can be obtained by reacting sodium bromide (NaBr),a solid with sulfuric acid, where some of the resulting HBr (hydrogen bromide)is oxidized to pure bromine. NaBr (solid) + H2SO4 (aqeous solution)→ HBr (aqeous solution) + NaHSO4 (aqeous solution) 2 HBr (aq) + H2SO4 (aq) → Br2 (gas,liquid) + SO2 (gas) + 2 H2O (liquid) 36. Krypton (Kr) Krypton,like the other noble gases, is used in neon lighting. Just look for abluish-white color. 37. Rubidium (Rb) Rubidium, anotheralkali metal, is mainly produced through a thermite reaction of rubidiumchloride (obtained from a chemical catalog) and calcium powder. Just rememberwhat you've learned. 38. Strontium (Sr) Strontium isobtained through a complex chemical reaction, through the melting of strontiumchloride (a well-known firework ingredient which burns a deep red, and is madefrom strontium carbonate and hydrochloric acid) and mixing of the moltencompound with potassium chloride, and electrolyzing the molten result. Thiswill produce strontium, and waste products containing potassium and chlorine.Man, there's a lot of chlorine production in these reactions. Maybe forChlorine, I should've just said: See almost every other entry in the book. 39. Yttrium (Y) Yttrium isobtained through the same method as the rare earth elements, but itsconcentrations in monazite sand vary between 2 and 3 percent. That means youhave to get 50 grams of monazite to get a little over 1 gram of yttrium. (50grams is pretty small, so you should have no trouble.) 40. Zirconium (Zr) Purezirconium metal is produced by powdering a pure form of the gemstone cubiczirconia, and using a thermite reaction with aluminum to reduce the zirconiumdioxide to aluminum oxide and zirconium metal. Chemical equation: 3 ZrO2 + 4 Al = 3 Zr + 2 Al2O3 41. Niobium (Nb) Niobium canbe produced by mixing powdered niobium oxide (Nb2O5) withpowdered hematite, a common magnetic mineral (Fe2O3),then adding powdered aluminum to that. As you can guess, this is a thermitereaction, so proceed accordingly. 42. Molybdenum (Mo) Molybdenumcan be easily found. It is the wire that holds up the tungsten coils in a flashbulb.So, that's 3 elements in one lightbulb. Wow. 43. Technetium (Tc) Hooray,radioactivity! Technetium can be found in one of two highly expensive methods.One is to buy a technetium-based atomic battery, and another is to somehow getsome Tc-99m, a metastable isotope used in radiosurgery. 44. Ruthenium (Ru) Rutheniumcan be found on ruthenium-plated jewelry. The typical color of this jewelry isa dark, pewter color. 45. Rhodium (Rh) To get rhodium, you have to get a piece ofrhodium plated jewelry. To get the Rhodium off, you can use reverseelectrolysis. 46.Palladium (Pd) Like rhodium, palladium can be reverseelectroplated off a plated jewelry. 47. Silver (Ag) Silver,known for its beauty and use in jewelry, is commonly found in bullion shops.Bullion is the general term for bars and coins straight from the mint, so keepan eye on the spot price of silver (It should be in the business stocks, under'Commodities') and save up for a troy ounce or two. 48. Cadmium (Cd) This one'seasy, and is very similar to the process for Lithium. Just break open acompletely drained Nickel-Cadmium battery, and the cadmium is deposited on oneside of the battery. Another wayis to crack open a cadmium-telluride solar panel, powdering the cadmiumtelluride (a black, shiny solid), and heating it to 610 degrees Fahrenheit.This melts out the Cadmium, and leaves the Tellurium behind. It's a two-for-onedeal! 49. Indium (In) Indium isused as a part of a solder named simply "Indalloy 1", containing 50% Indium byweight, and 50 % Tin by weight. So buy the solder, heat it to 320 degrees F,and the Indium will melt, but the Tin won't. Alternatively, the solder "In99"is 99% Indium, but it may be expensive. Another way is to disassemble acomputer and find the microprocessor inside. Between the microprocessor and itsheat sink is a layer of pure indium. 50. Tin (Sn) Tin is apretty easy metal to get, just melt a solder with a very high concentration oftin to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit (oven temperature) and remove the moltenparts from the still-solid parts. Solders are found in every Home Depot inexistence. A good one to use is "Indalloy 1", which contains a mixture of halfTin and half Indium, so two elements are in the bag instead of one. If youdon't want to go to the trouble of getting a cool blob of tin, the solder"Sn99" is, as the name might imply, nearly pure tin. 51. Antimony (Sb) Antimony iscommonly found as a sulfide, and to reduce this to pure antimony, you have touse powdered stibnite (natural antimony sulfide) with scrap iron, and heat itto form antimony and iron sulfide. Here is the chemical equation: Sb2S3 + 3Fe-> 2Sb + 3FeS 3 times as much iron as Sb2S3 willgive you two quantities of antimony, and three of iron sulfide. Antimony is dangerous if ingested, so be careful. 52. Tellurium (Te) Tellurium isfound by precipitating it out of telluric acid (Te(OH)6,or in cadmium telluride solar panels. Break open a solar panel, get the blacksolid inside (make sure this is NOT silicon!) and heat it to 610 degrees F.This will melt out the Cadmium, leaving the tellurium behind. 53. Iodine (I) A relativelyeasy element to get, provided you have the right materials. These are coppersulfate, a common blue chemical, and potassium iodide, a slightly less commonsalt of potassium. Combine these, and you will initially get copper (II)iodide, which decomposes to iodine and copper (I) iodide. A morecomplex way is to combine however many mL of tincture of iodine, half that ofhydrochloric acid, and the same amount as the bottles of hydrogen peroxide.Stir this for five minutes, let precipitate for five or more minutes, andfilter. The iodine should be a wet sort of sludge at this point, so connectwhatever you used for the iodine collection (e.g. a test tube) to another testtube, through a glass or maybe rubber tube. Heat the sludge until the iodinesublimes into a violet gas, and put the other test tube in an extremely coldplace. When the iodine gas hits the cold test tube, it crystallizes into solid,black-silver iodine. NEVER do this inside, as the fumes given off by the iodineare potentially poisonous. Another way to obtain Iodine is to pour sulfuric acid onto kelp.Kelp and other water plants have high concentrations of iodine in them, so thisshould be easier for tropical people. Iodine sublimes into gas at room temperature, and this gas isharmful, so keep it well sealed. 54. Xenon (Xe) Xenon is found in neon lights as a light blue color.Alternatively, it is found in some headlamp bulbs, and maybe at a weldingstore. 55. Cesium (Cs) Cesium is one of those few elements that has a low enough meltingpoint to actually melt in your hand. Cesium can be produced by finding aspecimen of pollucite (Cs(Si2Al)O6 x n H2O)and powdering it, then putting it in a solution of sulfuric acid to get acesium alum (CsAl(SO4). Roast this with carbon, then add water toget cesium sulfate (CsSO4). Now that the sulfate is in aqueoussolution, add barium azide (Ba(N3)2 to get cesium azide(CsN3). Heat this to 800 degrees C to get exceptionally pure cesium. 56. Barium (Ba) Barium can be produced through the electrolysis of molten bariumchloride, which can be produced by reacting barium carbonate with hydrochloricacid: BaCO3 (s) +2 HCl (aq) → BaCl2 (aq)+ CO2 (g) + H2O (l) Barium chloride is toxic and melts at 1763.6 degrees F. So get theblowtorch and some oxygen, and get electrolyzing! A note: Barium very quicklyoxidizes, so try to keep it under oil. For cesium's isolation, you will need barium azide. To make this,you take barium carbonate and turn it into barium oxide by heating it withcoke. Then, react this with hydroazoic acid (HN3) to get bariumazide. Barium oxide is a skin irritant, so wear gloves. 57-60, 62-71. The RareEarth Elements (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) Do you live in Florida? Do you live near a beach? Floridianbeaches are chock-full of monazite, which contains all of the rare earthelements, sometimes in concentrations as high as 50 percent! So head on down tothat there beach, collect as much of the sand pictured below as you can, andget the sample assayed for the rare earth elements, and when you have done this,separate them by highest concentration of an element (excluding cerium, becausethat's the principal component of monazite anyway), and follow the steps of thechemical reaction below: 1) Treat the mixture with hot,concentrated sulfuric acid. This turns the element into its water-solublesulfates. Have these re-assayed, and separated again into the element's sulfateand the waste products, which may be sulfates of other rare earths (so keepthem around!). 2) When this is done, treat themixture with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) to reduce the acidity. 3) Treat the result with ammoniumoxate to convert it into the element's oxate, and again, check for purity. It'sbest to save up trips like these, as one long assaying session of severaldifferent compounds is much better than several short trips, both for theenvironment and for your patience. 4) Anneal your product to get theoxide of the element (annealing is a process of heating at a constanttemperature, cooling, and then heating again, and is used by all blacksmiths). 5) Dissolve your result in nitricacid. Cerium is excluded from this process because cerium salts are insolublein nitric acid. Cerium has a separate entry below. 6) Remove the result, dispose or keepthe nitric acid, and be quick about it: many of the rare earths are known tocatch fire when exposed to air, and explode more violently than potassium inwater, so fill your vials and test tubes with oil to prevent oxidation, andinjury. Cerium (Ce):Metallic cerium can be obtained by, you guessed it, a thermite reaction. Thereactants will be cerium chloride, and metallic calcium in powder form. Followthe common thermite reaction procedure, and you've obtained metallic cerium!Just remember to control the temperature to be over 1463 degrees F, but under 1548degrees F, so the cerium melts but the calcium doesn't. This reaction, like somany others, produces chlorine gas. Chemical equations and ratios, you know thedrill by now: 2CeCl3 + 3Ca -> 2Ce +3CaCl2 72. Hafnium (Hf) Hafnium is incredibly hard to separatein nature from zirconium, but you can bypass that by starting with hafniumchloride. When this is powdered, mixed with powdered magnesium, and heated toabout 2,012 degrees F, the result produces pure hafnium metal and magnesiumchloride, which can rarely poison people. HfCl2 + Mg -> Hf + MgCl2 73. Tantalum (Ta) Tantalum can be obtained by buying atantalum electrolytic capacitor. These have a tantalum powder core, a tantalumpentoxide outer shell, and a manganese dioxide shell. 74. Tungsten (W) Tungsten isthat tiny spring-like wire in a light bulb. Crack one open, and get thetungsten (and argon, and molybdenum) inside. 75. Rhenium (Re) Rhenium canbe obtained by reacting perrhenic acid with ammonium chloride to get ammoniumperrhenate. Then react this product with burning hydrogen to obtain a mixturethat contains ammonia (corrosive), water, and rhenium powder. Here is thechemical equation: 2 NH4ReO4 + 7 H2 → 2Re + 8 H2O + 2 NH3 Rhenium compounds are about as toxic as table salt, but little isknown about the toxicity of rhenium itself. Take care. 76. Osmium (Os) Osmium isvery dangerous, like beryllium. It is pyrophoric in powder form (bursts intoflames on contact with air), and reacts with air to form osmium tetroxide, anextremely painful and poisonous gas. A good way to obtain Osmium (and Iridium) is to find apure sample of iridosmine (a mineral), beat it to a powder, and heat it to awhopping 4436.6 degrees F to melt the iridium out. This will leave iridiumsolid and osmium powder, so heat the osmium with burning hydrogen to melt itinto its safer solid form. Iridosmine can be found on the tips of expensivepens, as well as Osmium itself. 77.Iridium (Ir) To get iridium (see Osmium above for moredetail), you have to melt it out of iridosmine powder. Iridium melts at 4436.6degrees F, so get out your tungsten wires, people! 78. Platinum (Pt) Platinum,the most expensive jewelry ingredient, can be obtained by reverseelectroplating it off of jewelry. 79. Gold (Au) Yes, I cantell you how to get the metal of kings. But it requires a lot of hard work. Inevery stream in the world, there is at least a small quantity of gold. To getit, get a good-old fashioned gold pan, and look for a bend in the stream ofyour choice (preferably as near to a mountain as you can get). Pan on theinside curve of that bend, and if the gold's not there, it's not anywhere inthat stream. Alternatively, you could buy gold bullion (bullion is discussed inSilver), but it's currently very expensive, well over $1000 for a cube 1.61inches long, which is a troy ounce. It's best for a first-timer to try and goto California, to the Mother Lode area, and take lessons there. The people ofJamestown Gold Panning are very informative, and were extremely helpful to meon my first real panning and sluicing experience, teaching me severalprofessional techniques. So grab your gold pan, and head out there to collectthe world's favorite yellow metal. 80. Mercury (Hg) Next toberyllium or arsenic, mercury is one of the most toxic elements I can tell youhow to get. What you have to do is find anything from the 1980's-1990's with atemperature-related application (ex: thermometer) and look for a liquid metalsomewhere inside it. Try to extract the Mercury in a cold environment, to keepit as a liquid. Mercury vapor is extremely toxic, and the metal itself canenter through the skin, so use medical gloves, or something that won't letanything enter your skin. These are being banned, so if your parent is about tothrow one out, stop them and reuse it! Sincemercury is quickly evaporating (heh) from the commercial industry, another wayI have found is to heat powdered cinnabar, a common mineral. This gives mercuryvapor and sulfur dioxide, both dangerous gases. See more ongetting Sodium for a possible alternate method of getting mercury. 81. Thallium (Tl) Thallium ishighly toxic, a carcinogen, and enters the body through skin, air and water. Ifyou still want this element, obtain the mineral crookesite, and treating itwith sulfuric acid to produce thallium sulfate. Melt this, and electrolyze theresult to get pure thallium and sulfur. Pick up the thallium with tongs, andplace it in a test tube. Cork it, and you have pure thallium. 82. Lead (Pb) Lead is arelatively safe metal, only toxic when ingested or melted. The easiest way toobtain lead is by going to a store that sells fishing equipment, and buying alead weight. That sounds easy enough, right? 83. Bismuth (Bi) Bismuth canbe found anywhere there's tourists. Lab-grown bismuth crystals form a beautifuloxide in all colors of the rainbow on their surface, and are very often sold inrock and hobby shops. Bismuth is also found in lead-free bullets. 94. Plutonium (Pu) Ah,plutonium, the stuff that has inspired radioactivity-themed objects for quite awhile. To get even a small amount of plutonium, you will have to pay quiteexpensively. Plutonium is found in the batteries of pacemakers, devices thatregulate heartbeat. 95. Americium (Am) This is the secondradioactive element I will teach you how to get, and also the easiest. To getamericium, you have to take apart a smoke detector. What you will find (at thecenter, encased in a few shells of aluminum) is 0.9 micrograms of americium.Seal this in a vial made of or coated with LEAD, to prevent the radioactivityfrom getting to you. 96. Curium (Cu) Same asplutonium.
John Cuthber Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 "6. Carbon © Carbon, the element known for creating the complex molecules that, in turn,make you, is also a very easy elementto find." Oh dear, if someone has copyrighted carbon we are all in trouble. "well over $1000 for a cube 1.61inches long, which is a troy ounce." Wrong. That's not a troy ounce it's a few pounds. "What you will find (at thecenter, encased in a few shells of aluminum) is 0.9 micrograms of americium" Nope, you will get something like 0.9 microcuries. Perhaps you should sort out the typos, put the spaces in the right places, then correct the other errors.
elementcollector1 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Posted August 14, 2011 "6. Carbon © Carbon, the element known for creating the complex molecules that, in turn,make you, is also a very easy elementto find." Oh dear, if someone has copyrighted carbon we are all in trouble. "well over $1000 for a cube 1.61inches long, which is a troy ounce." Wrong. That's not a troy ounce it's a few pounds. "What you will find (at thecenter, encased in a few shells of aluminum) is 0.9 micrograms of americium" Nope, you will get something like 0.9 microcuries. Perhaps you should sort out the typos, put the spaces in the right places, then correct the other errors. Carbon: It's the autocorrect. I meant to put parenthesis C endparenthesis. Gold: Cubic centimeters, sorry. Americium: It was something like that, but I kept getting it wrong. As for the other random typos, that's just the format it was put in. I'll try to fix it... Thanks for the point-outs, though. Great help.
teiu88 Posted December 29, 2011 Posted December 29, 2011 Great list. I went to Home Depot but there was no Indalloy solder. :/
elementcollector1 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Posted December 29, 2011 Great list. I went to Home Depot but there was no Indalloy solder. :/ Yeah, it seems to be rare. Ebay? Anyway, this list is outdated, so I'm posting an updated version. As you saw from the first one, these can be REALLY long, so I hope no one has any concerns about that. 1. Hydrogen (H) Hydrogen, thefirst of the elements, is also one of the easiest to obtain through the use ofsimple chemistry. Hydrogen can be obtained through the use of electrolysis ofsalt water, or passing electricity through salt water. Materials: -Pure water (H2O) -Wire / battery -Container -2 test tubes -2 metal paperclips -Salt Procedure: 1) Get2 test tubes: 1 for the Hydrogen, and 1for the waste product (oxygen and a small amount of chlorine gas). 2) Filla container with pure water, NOT tap water. Put a large amount of salt in thewater. 3) Setup your battery and wires, and put metal paperclips on the end of each wire. 4) Makingsure the test tubes are filled completely with the water, put an end of a wireinto a corresponding test tube. 5) Thecathode will produce hydrogen, while the anode will produce the waste product.You can tell which is which because since water has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1oxygen, the test tube containing hydrogen will fill up twice as fast. 6) Whenthe test tube is full, lift it up (being careful not to let it be overturned,releasing all the hydrogen) put the cap on it and seal it with duct tape.Congratulations! You have just created Hydrogen. Precautions:Hydrogen is explosive, as noted in the famous Hindenburg crash. Never, EVER getany fire near it. This reactionproduces a small amount of chlorine gas, which can be poisonous. Use caution. Another wayis to take Calcium, Lithium, or heated Magnesium and place it in water. Thiswill produce a metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 2. Helium (He) The easy wayto obtain helium is probably one you would expect: a helium balloon! Just cutopen a full balloon and quickly close your fingers over the hole, stick anupended test tube in carefully, and loosen your fingers to the width of thetest tube. Hold this for about 5 seconds to make sure the helium is in there,remove the test tube (while still carefully holding it upside down to avoidlosing the helium), and screw on the cap. Seal the tube and you have yoursample of helium. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 3. Lithium (Li) The lightestmetal known, lithium can actually float on water. Then it reacts with the waterto release hydrogen gas, which is the most exothermic (heat-releasing),although not the most rigorous of the alkali metals’ reactions. Lithium iscommonly found in batteries, like an Energizer Lithium battery. For these lithium batteries, the process is a bit dangerous, but veryrewarding. For starters, peel off the plastic on the surface to reveal thesteel case. With pliers, pop off the release valve, negative terminal, andplastic casing at one end, revealing the core of the battery. Take this over toa fume hood, as some dangerous stuff (mostly liquid and gas) is going to beworked with. Unroll the outer covering like a roll of tape, revealing aprotective foamy-like inner casing. Unroll this, and in the center will be asteel mesh containing manganese dioxide, and under that is the lithium. Thereis quite a chunk of lithium in here for such a small battery, consisting of aone- foot by 2-inch strip of pure lithium. Coil it back up, put it inside a containerfilled with mineral oil, and you now have your very own lithium. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 4. Beryllium (Be) Beryllium isa toxic metal that, after too muchexposure to the human body, causes berylliosis, which is fatal. It is alsothought to be a carcinogen, so handlewith extreme care. This element is really much safer to buy, as the peoplewho manufacture it usually know what they’re doing. However, if you do want to isolateyour own beryllium for some strange reason, a thermite reaction betweenberyllium fluoride and magnesium can be used. To start, take a sample ofberyllium copper (found on Amazon) and expose it to concentrated hydrochloricacid. Once this is fully dissolved, showing the copper chloride blue solution,we add concentrated NaOH solution to precipitate out a gel. Filter this out,and leave standing to turn it to a whitish-blue powder. Heat this to 400degrees Celsius to make beryllium oxide, BeO. Put this back in the hydrochloricacid, and boil down to get beryllium chloride, BeCl2. Mix this withMagnesium powder in a 3:1 ratio of beryllium chloride to magnesium by weight.Place this in a crucible, and light, closing the crucible lid. You will be leftwith beryllium metal and magnesium chloride. 5. Boron (B) Boron, anonmetal element, can be isolated from boric acid, which is sold as Roach Ridd™ insecticide. Heat this slowly until it turns from the fluffy bright-whitepowder into a gooey, very sticky, glassy-like liquid. This is boron trioxide (B2O3).Combine this with very fine magnesium powder and light it with a blowtorch, orother method of thermite ignition. Once you have done this, collect the results(which should be a black solid) and finely powder them, preferably inside aball mill (or rock tumbler with steel Magnetix ™ balls inside). Once this hasbeen finely powdered, put inside a test tube and very slowly drop inhydrochloric acid, to eliminate the reaction’s impurities. Boron is inert tothis, so it won’t react. Filter and dry this, and you have your elementalBoron. 6. Carbon ( C) Carbon, the element known for creating the complex molecules that, in turn,make you, is also a very easy elementto find. After all, you write with it! Carbon is found in the mineral graphite(pictured above next to diamond, another form of carbon), which is used aspencil “lead”. So break open your used pencils, and there you have it! *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 7. Nitrogen (N) Nitrogen, forme, was one of the most surprising elements to find, due to the fact that it’sjust so easy, it’s in the bag. Literally! Nitrogen is the stuff used to inflatechip bags. All you have to do is open one, stick a test tube full of water in(quickly, so the nitrogen doesn’t escape) and cork it! Oh, and you probablycan’t eat the chips afterward. (They’d be all soggy…eww….) *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 8. Oxygen (O) Oxygen is aslightly harder element to get in pure form than the ones we’ve covered so far.Then again, as the Table goes on, it will get slowly harder to get theelements. Oxygen can be made by combining manganese dioxide (the stuff in the battery)and hydrogen peroxide (a mild antiseptic found at most pharmacies). All youhave to do is trap the resulting gas in a test tube, and you’re done! *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Note: You maynotice that I skip a few elements, such as fluorine. This is because there isno cheap or safe way to obtain those elements, or that the elements are toxic.Both are the case with fluorine, and besides, fluorine would destroy your testtube, due to its reaction with glass… and everything else. 10. Neon (Ne) Neon can befound in a sodium vapor lamp, which not only contains 99% neon gas but also asodium-mercury amalgam as well. Break open the lamp in a sealed environment,and uncap a test tube near the top of the container. The neon gas should be uphere, so turn the test tube upside down to let the neon flow in and the airflow out. Recap and seal the test tube, and you have your neon. Alternatively,it’s possible welding stores might sell it, as well as the rest of the noblegases. 11. Sodium (Na) Sodium is avery difficult element to obtain in pure form, as it easily reacts with air toform an oxide, and violently produces hydrogen gas when in contact with water.There are several ways to obtain sodium metal, but most of them are difficultor expensive. That being said, here are two ways to obtain the element withsodium hydroxide, a common drain cleaner known as “lye”: The first is to reactthe lye in a ‘thermite’ with magnesium, which produces sodium with severalimpurities. Then you would heat this under oil to sodium’s melting point, whichis roughly 100 degrees Celsius. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Another waythat doesn’t involve chemistry is to break open a sodium vapor lamp, whichcontains 2% sodium (in a mercury amalgam) and 99% neon gas. Heat the amalgam tosodium’s melting point, driving off mercury vapor and sodium remaining as aliquid. Sodium vapor lamps’ more common name are streetlights, which light upthe earth bright orange at night. Sodium metal can also be found in a poppet orengine valve, inside the stem. So if you have one of those, hacksaw it out inargon or other inert-gas atmosphere. 12. Magnesium (Mg) Magnesium iseasily available in pure form. Just go to the local Boy Scouts, camping store, orTarget ™ and find a Magnesium fire-starter. These are used, as the name maysuggest, to start fires. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 13. Aluminum (Al) Probably theeasiest element to find in this book, all you have to do is go to your kitchenand get a piece of aluminum foil, known alternatively as tinfoil (though no tinis present in current aluminum foil). That’s really all you have to do. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Also, forsome of the later reactions in this book you will need aluminum powder. Thiscan be found by buying a common Etch-A-Sketch, and chiseling to the innerworkings. There is a bunch of powder in there, so be careful. Another way is to blend or ball mill aluminumfoil, or grind a solid aluminum object. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 14. Silicon (Si) This elementis used in computer chips. So ask your dad if he has any old motherboards orother computer circuitry, and chances are there will be a silicon chip or diodein there. Alternatively, you could crack open a solar panel, or visit SiliconValley in California. Silicon’s pretty cheap over there. 15. Phosphorus (P) To get redphosphorus, the safe form of this element, you will need quite a few matchboxes(NOT the matches), 100% pure Acetone or rubbing alcohol, acetone of which canbe found at most hardware or paint stores, a scraper, a filter, and a few otherodds and ends. First, cut the red, usually hexagonal-patterned strikers off ofthe matchboxes. Then, dump these into a cup or shot glass, and pour the acetoneor alcohol in until it covers the top of the strikers, and stir it vigorously.Ever heard that chemistry is like cooking, and vice versa? Well, it is. Afteryou are sure that all the red phosphorus has come off of the strikers (you mayhave to scrape some off into the acetone, so wear some heavy gloves), decantthis into a filter. This leaves mostly pure red phosphorus, with some acetone,paper, and glue still in it. To get rid of all this, place your red phosphoruspowder into a Pyrex container, and place this in a pot and fill with wateruntil the Pyrex is submerged. Bring this to boiling, and leave it there for awhile to get rid of the rest of the impurities. Dry this in another filter toget ultra-pure red phosphorus. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Precautions:Acetone’s fumes are caustic, meaning they will harm organic matter (i.e. you)upon contact. However, it’s much preferable to the rubbing alcohol, as it getsthe job done faster. 16. Sulfur (S) To makesulfur, you have to find a brand of fertilizer that is mostly calcium sulfateand high in sulfur. Place this in a strainer, and do a few washes withdistilled water. The calcium sulfate will become a sort of paste at first, butthis will wash away after a few washes. Dry the product, and you have yoursulfur. 17. Chlorine (Cl) An easy wayto obtain chlorine is to use two common chemicals, those being manganesedioxide and hydrochloric acid. Combine these two in a test tube to producewater, manganese chloride, and free chlorine. 18. Argon (Ar) While argonis a noble gas, and glows purple when used in “neon” lights, there is another,easier way to obtain argon: Just find a dead light bulb. Light bulbs are filledwith argon instead of air, so that the bulb burns cleaner and brighter. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 19. Potassium (K) A moredangerous element due to its violent reaction with water, potassium can beobtained through the electrolysis of molten caustic potash (KOH). KOH’s meltingpoint is 680 degrees F, and it is commonly found as a drain cleaner. I foundmine on Amazon as “Red Hot Devil Potash” Another wayto get KOH is to do electrolysis of aqueous KCl, or salt substitute. Make asupersaturated solution of the KCl in water. Then, drop a piece of zinc in(some of the reacted stuff will be hypochlorite, so the zinc will reduce itback to chloride), and lower a 9V battery with some sort of separator betweenthe electrodes in. When the battery is no longer producing streams of gas(chlorine is generated, along with hydrogen, NEVER let these two combine),remove the battery (probably dead by now), remaining zinc, and non-dissolvedKCl through a filter. Boil the KOH solution in a metal container to make pureKOH. Alternatively,you can heat sodium metal with potassium chloride (known as Murate of Potash orsalt substitute at any grocery store) to 850 degrees Celsius to reduce it togaseous potassium and liquid sodium chloride, which can then be collected anddistilled. Precautions: Potassiumactually reacts with the water vapor in air, so store it under oil. “Caustic”means it will BURN YOUR SKIN OFF. Take extreme precautions when dealing withpotassium hydroxide. 20. Calcium (Ca) The stuffthat makes your teeth, calcium is a moderately difficult element to isolate. Anotherthermite, this one requires plaster (of Paris, presumably) and aluminum powder.Combine these and heat with a fuse of magnesium, and you get calcium metal. 21. Scandium (Sc) Scandiumisn’t very well-known, but the easiest way to obtain it is through theelectrolysis of scandium chloride, which will release Scandium metal andChlorine gas, which is a poison. 22. Titanium (Ti) Titanium issometimes used in cooking equipment due to its light weight and strength,especially in backpacking cooking equipment. Once again, Boy Scouts comes inhandy. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Alternatively,you can use a complex thermite reaction between titanium dioxide, aluminum,drywall plaster, and maybe ground fluorite powder, and pick out the lumps oftitanium metal afterwards. 23. Vanadium (V) Vanadium canbe obtained through a highly dangerous thermite reaction with Vanadiumpentoxide (a poison) and magnesium, with a fuse of magnesium ribbon and abarrier. The chemical reaction and quantities are listed below: V2O5+ 5Mg -> 5 MgO + 2V For everyquantity of vanadium pentoxide, you need five times that amount of magnesium,and will get 5 quantities of magnesium oxide and 2 quantities of vanadiummetal. Huzzah! I am notresponsible for your injuries, however I am responsible for telling you how todo this correctly. To read about thermite reactions, see page 0.1. 24. Chromium (Cr) To makechromium, first find green chromium oxide (Cr2O3) pigmentpowder, and grind it as fine as possible with a mortar and pestle or ball mill.Mix this with twice its weight in aluminum, throw a magnesium strip in there,and light it. If all goes well, you’ll be left with a sphere of chromium metal. 25. Manganese (Mn) To makeManganese metal, you will first need to start with Manganese Dioxide. This canbe obtained from regular alkaline batteries (I suggest using the fat ones, asthere’s a LOT in there). First, hacksaw off either end of the battery, makingsure to stop and wait whenever bubbles of potassium hydroxide appear. Then,when the end is completely off, take a pair of pliers and pull out the core inthe middle. This leaves a graphite electrode and impure manganese dioxide inthe battery case. Scrape the manganese dioxide into a container, and throw awayeverything else if not desired. Put the black powder in a filter, and washseveral times with water. It should turn from a black powder to agrayish-silver one. Dry this and put into a ball mill or mortar and pestle,until it is a very fine powder. Through thesame process as many metals, Manganese can be obtained through a thermitereaction of Manganese Dioxide (MnO2). Use aluminum at a 2.42:1 ratioof MnO2 to Al, respectively. Use a crucible with a lid for this one,as some of the Manganese is bound to vaporize. I would also recommend usingpotassium permanganate and glycerin to start the thermite, followed by quicklyclosing the lid. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 26. Iron (Fe) Grab anungalvanized (zinc-plated) nail. This is iron with 1-5% impurities. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 27. Cobalt (Co) To makecobalt, first take a samarium-cobalt magnet, and dissolve it in hydrochloricacid (always wait until the acid stops reacting before you add another piece,for safety). The solution should be red, or have some red tinge. Add oxalicacid to precipitate out the samarium, and filter this out to be used later. Boilthe solution (it should turn blue near the end) to be left with cobalt oxalate,and re-dissolve this in HCl. Boil this to get a sky blue anhydrate (if purple,keep heating. This is the hexahydrate). Mix this with powdered magnesium oraluminum in a crucible, and light. You should be left with magnesium oraluminum chloride and cobalt metal. 28. Nickel (Ni) If you’reCanadian, this’ll be easy! If not, it’ll be a bit difficult. To obtain nickel,find a Canadian dime dated 1969 to 1999, and it’s made of pure nickel. And youget ten cents! *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Manyneodymium magnets are also plated with pure nickel, so if you have some ofthese, simply put it in a clamp with a large bit still sticking out, and hitthat part with a hammer, breaking the magnet. Then, slowly and carefully, peeloff the nickel plating with your hands, until there is none left. You’ll beusing the deplated neodymium magnets for the neodymium synthesis, so keep thesearound. 29. Copper (Cu) Rememberthose wires you used for Hydrogen, and maybe Sodium/Chlorine? Cut off a bit,and strip the outer rubber off. You’ll be left with pure copper wire. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Anotherinteresting way to get copper can be done two ways: One involving brass and theother, a penny. I would recommend brass, as the product comes out much purer.Anyway, if you are using a penny (if using brass, then skip this step), scrapeoff a small amount of the copper plating to reveal the zinc underneath. Then,take your material and put it in a solution of concentrated hydrochloric aciduntil only copper “shells” of the penny are left. After this, to get rid ofremaining HCl, add baking soda until the solution stops foaming, and carefullyremove the fragile, newly formed piece of copper. This is a super-thin,electroplated shell, and you still see all the details of a penny on it. Keepthis method in mind, as we will come back to it when visiting the platinumgroup. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 30. Zinc (Zn) One of myfavorite, this involves a recently dated U.S. penny and a bit of hard work. Youcan use sandpaper, or a concrete surface, but rub the penny against these. Keepat it until the whole thing is silver-colored, and there you have it: A disc ofpure zinc. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* To make purezinc powder for pyrotechnics, dissolve the zinc in excess hydrochloric acid toform zinc chloride in an aqueous solution. Add aluminum to make zinc powder. 31. Gallium (Ga) Gallium isanother extremely hard-to-get element, and the best way I have found so far isto order a sample of sodium gallate from a chemical supplier’s catalog, andelectrolyze it. Sodium gallate is an acid, so take care. 32. Germanium (Ge) Germaniumrequires you to find a 1N34A Germanium diode. Break it open to get theGermanium semiconductor crystal within. 33. Arsenic To getarsenic, you have three options: One, to find a sample of native arsenic, ortwo, to melt arsenopyrite in argon to sublime arsenic metal, or three, to reactfinely powdered orpiment (TOXIC) with aluminum, capturing the sublimed arsenicon a cold surface. 34. Selenium (Se) To start theprocess of obtaining Selenium, first obtain selenium dioxide (from a chemicalcatalog). Mix this with water, turning it into selenous acid. This is bubbledwith sulfur dioxide to produce elemental selenium. 35. Bromine (Br) One of justtwo liquid elements, Bromine can be obtained by reacting sodium bromide (NaBr),a white solid, with sulfuric acid,resulting in gaseous bromine. Some liquid bromine will also be formed, and thiscan be collected by boiling it off at 58.8 degrees Celsius in a closed vessel.Carefully open this, and ‘pour’ the gas into a flask inside an ice bath, whereit will condense. Take the newly formed liquid and put it in an ampoule,carefully sealing off the top with a torch. 36. Krypton (Kr) Krypton, likethe other noble gases, is used in neon lighting. Just look for a bluish-whitecolor. 37. Rubidium (Rb) To getrubidium, you first must get a rubidium atomic clock. Dismantle this to get thesmall ampoule of the extremely tiny sample of rubidium. These things areanywhere from 30-100 dollars, so save up. Be careful, as if the ampoule isbroken, the rubidium will almost instantly ignite. 38. Strontium (Sr) Strontium isobtained through a complex chemical reaction, through the melting of strontiumchloride (a well-known firework ingredient which burns a deep red, and is madefrom strontium carbonate and hydrochloric acid) and mixing of the moltencompound with potassium chloride, and electrolyzing the molten result. Thiswill produce strontium, and waste products containing potassium and chlorine.Man, there’s a lot of chlorine production in these reactions. Maybe forChlorine, I should’ve just said: See almost every other entry in the book. 39. Yttrium (Y) Yttrium isobtained through the same method as the rare earth elements, but itsconcentrations in monazite sand vary between 2 and 3 percent. That means you haveto get 50 grams of monazite to get a little over 1 gram of yttrium. (50 gramsis pretty small, so you should have no trouble.) 40. Zirconium (Zr) Purezirconium metal is produced by powdering a pure form of the gemstone cubiczirconia, and using a thermite reaction with aluminum to reduce the zirconiumdioxide to aluminum oxide and zirconium metal. Chemical equation: 3 ZrO2 + 4 Al = 3 Zr + 2 Al2O3 41. Niobium (Nb) Niobium canbe produced by mixing powdered niobium oxide (Nb2O5) withpowdered hematite, a common magnetic mineral (Fe2O3),then adding powdered aluminum to that. As you can guess, this is a thermitereaction, so proceed accordingly. 42. Molybdenum (Mo) First, obtaina specimen of molybdenite from a local rock shop. Then, powder and heat this witha blowtorch to produce molybdenum oxide. Reduce this with aluminum powder, orhydrogen if you have it. This produces relatively pure Molybdenum. 43. Technetium (Tc) Hooray,radioactivity! Technetium can be found in one of two highly expensive methods.One is to buy a technetium-based atomic battery, and another is to somehow getsome Tc-99m, a metastable isotope used in radiosurgery. 44. Ruthenium (Ru) Ruthenium canbe found on ruthenium-plated jewelry. The typical color of this jewelry is adark, pewter color. Also,something called “ruthenium brass” exists. Expose this to concentratedhydrochloric acid; if it is an alloy or even plated ruthenium, the “brass” willreact (at least, the zinc will), leaving the ruthenium and possibly copperbehind as powders. Neutralize the remaining acid with baking soda. 45. Rhodium (Rh) To get rhodium, you have to get a piece ofrhodium plated jewelry. To get the Rhodium off, you can scrape off just a tinybit of the plating and expose the piece to hydrochloric acid. Seeing as rhodiumdoes not react with HCl, and silver and copper do, the sterling silver shouldreact out of the piece, leaving a very fragile rhodium “shell” behind.Neutralize any remaining acid with baking soda. 46.Palladium (Pd) Like rhodium, palladium can be acid-treatedout of palladium-plated jewelry. Or americium ionization chambers. 47. Silver (Ag) Silver, knownfor its beauty and use in jewelry, is commonly found in bullion shops. Bullionis the general term for bars and coins straight from the mint, so keep an eyeon the spot price of silver (It should be in the business stocks, under‘Commodities’) and save up for a troy ounce or two. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 48. Cadmium (Cd) This one’seasy, and is very similar to the process for Lithium. Just break open acompletely drained Nickel-Cadmium battery, and the cadmium is the negativeplate of the battery, seen below: 1. Outermetal casing (negative terminal, discard) 2. Separator(discard) 3. Positiveelectrode (Nickel oxy-hydroxide, discard) 4. Negativeelectrode (Cd, keep) 49. Indium (In) Indium isused as a part of a solder named simply “Indalloy 1”, containing 50% Indium byweight, and 50 % Tin by weight. So buy the solder, heat it to 320 degrees F,and the Indium will melt, but the Tin won’t. Alternatively, the solder “In99”is 99% Indium, but it may be expensive. Another way is to disassemble acomputer and find the microprocessor inside. For some personal computerenthusiasts, the microprocessor and its heat sink is a layer of pure indium. 50. Tin (Sn) Tin is apretty easy metal to get, just melt a solder with a very high concentration oftin to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit (oven temperature) and remove the moltenparts from the still-solid parts. Solders are found in every Home Depot inexistence. A good one to use is “Indalloy 1”, which contains a mixture of halfTin and half Indium, so two elements are in the bag instead of one. If youdon’t want to go to the trouble of getting a cool blob of tin, the solder“Sn99” is, as the name might imply, nearly pure tin. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 51. Antimony (Sb) Antimony iscommonly found as a sulfide, and to reduce this to pure antimony, you have touse powdered stibnite (natural antimony sulfide) with scrap iron, and heat itto form antimony and iron sulfide. Here is the chemical equation: Sb2S3 + 3Fe-> 2Sb + 3FeS 3 times as much iron as Sb2S3 willgive you two quantities of antimony, and three of iron sulfide. Antimony is dangerously toxic if ingested, so be careful. 52. Tellurium (Te) Tellurium isfound by precipitating it out of telluric acid (Te(OH)6,or in cadmium telluride solar panels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53. Iodine (I) A relativelyeasy element to get, provided you have the right materials. These are coppersulfate, a common blue chemical, and potassium iodide, a slightly less commonsalt of potassium. Combine these, and you will initially get copper (II)iodide, which decomposes to iodine and copper (I) iodide. A morecomplex way is to combine however many mL of tincture of iodine, half that ofhydrochloric acid, and the same amount as the bottles of hydrogen peroxide.Stir this for five minutes, let precipitate for five or more minutes, andfilter. The iodine should be a wet sort of sludge at this point, so filter ituntil it dries. For higher purity, heat in a flask until the gas sublimes, openthe flask, and ‘pour’ the gas into a test tube or ampoule. Seal this off whenyou are done. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Another way to obtain Iodine is to pour sulfuric acid onto kelp.Kelp and other water plants have high concentrations of iodine in them, so thisshould be easier for tropical people. Iodine sublimes into gas at room temperature, and this gas isharmful, so keep it well sealed. 54. Xenon (Xe) Xenon is found in neon lights as a light blue color.Alternatively, it is found in some headlamp bulbs, and maybe at a weldingstore. 55. Cesium (Cs) To get cesium, similarly to rubidium, you must find a cesiumatomic clock. Dismantle this to get the small ampoule of cesium inside. Be VERYCAREFUL, as if you break the ampoule, the cesium will instantly light on fire.Good luck! 56. Barium (Ba) To get barium, you will first have to find a vacuum tube. Placethis in a fish tank or some such airtight vessel and flush with argon. Placethe tube inside, and smash with a hammer. The barium should be a flat metaldisk sticking out from the top of the inside. Ampoule this, and place in a torchuntil the ampoule is sealed. 57. Lanthanum (La) See Cerium below, during which you get the lanthanum ion insolution. Once you have enough cerium oxide, add oxalic acid to precipitate outboth cerium and lanthanum oxalate. This gets rid of all impurities but the rareearths. The cerium can be oxidized to the IV state with addition of commonhydrogen peroxide, whereas lanthanum will not. Add this back into acid, and addsodium hydroxide to precipitate out cerium oxide or hydroxide, and stop when alarge amount has formed. Repeat these steps to slowly get rid of the cerium,leaving only lanthanum chloride in solution. Carefully boil down to getlanthanum chloride. Place this in a clay tube, along with chunks ofclean-as-possible Lithium metal. Light with a blowtorch, and as soon as thefire starts to die down, add mineral oil. When you are done, you should have asolid chunk of Lanthanum below a blob of LiCl. Chisel the La out with a chiseland hammer, and immediately place into a container filled with mineral oil. 58. Cerium (Ce) Metallic cerium is found in 50% or higherconcentrations in magnesium firestarters, known as “mischmetal” flints. To getthe cerium, you must first obtain a bunch of mischmetal parts. To get the cerium out, you have todissolve this in excess hydrochloric acids to form Ln(lanthanide)Cl insolution. I then added a ton of magnesium (taken from the same firestarter,optional) to neutralize the acid, and boiled the result to 100 mL. This left mewith a lime-green solution of iron, magnesium, lanthanum and cerium chloride.Take 20 mL of this, and place it in a small beaker. Get about 20-30 (less isbetter) mL of 3% hydrogen peroxide, and dissolve about a quarter-sized amountof NaOH granules in it, waiting until all the granules are dissolved.. Addthis, very small amounts at a time, to get a tan precipitate, which is ceriumoxide. Filter this out, saving the filtered solution. Reconvert the oxide tochloride by placing the tan powder in fresh acid, and boil down to crystals(don’t boil too long, this will make CeOCl instead). Dry these, and powder themuntil they are very fine. Mix these with lithium or possibly magnesium (inpowder form for the latter) in a 246.5:21 or 493:73 ratio by weight,respectively, and light. Dig out the elemental cerium after, and quicklyprotect it from oxygen through mineral oil or argon. Another wayis to find cerium oxide polishing powder, which is a very light, skin-coloredtan, and dissolve it in hydrochloric acid. Boil this down until pink crystalsappear, which are your CeCl3. 59. Praseodymium To makepraseodymium, you must first start with a magnet that is contaminated with Pr(you’ll notice green or brown colors instead of neodymium’s typical darklavender in solution). First, prepare the magnet as you would for a pureneodymium one: Dissolve it in HCl after removing plating, add oxalic acid, andignite to make the two rare-earth oxides. Then, take ordinary distilledvinegar, and make a 5% solution of it if it isn’t already. Place the oxidemixture in, and the Pr2O3 is insoluble, whereas the Nd2O3dissolves. This gives you mostly pure praseodymium oxide, which you canreconvert to chloride through HCl. Evaporate this to get nice crystals of PrCl3.Dehydration with thionyl chloride may be necessary before the final step. Mixthese with Li under argon to make elemental Pr. 60. Neodymium To makeNeodymium, you have to first find a neodymium magnet. These are actually acompound of neodymium, iron, and boron, and are usually plated with layers ofcopper and nickel. Use pliers to break these magnets into as many pieces aspossible, and put this in a beaker with 50 mL of water. Add 50 mL ofconcentrated hydrochloric acid, and wait until the solution turns very darkpurple, almost black. Once this is done, boil down the solution until you get agreen powder, the desired neodymium chloride with some impurities, and a whitepowder, boric acid (which can be used for boron). Separate these, and scrapeeach into a separate container, setting the boric acid aside. Place the greenpowder inside a filter, then wash with isopropanol (rubbing) alcohol. This willwash out the ferric chloride. The second wash can be done with acetone from ahardware store. This will remove all impurities from the neodymium chloride,which will by now be a dark purple powder. Finally, takethis neodymium chloride and place it inside a clay crucible (preferablycone-shaped). Add some lithium chunks, as non-oxidated as possible, and quicklyfill with argon. Then, seal off the crucible from any air with a clay disk, andlet this dry. Heat this with a blowtorch to produce neodymium metal and lithiumchloride. After an hour or two of heating, the mixture should have fullyreacted, resulting in ultra-pure neodymium metal and lithium chloride. When itis cooled, place the neodymium in a container containing mineral oil, and youhave your neodymium! Most of thecredit goes to this video by TheChemLife: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLEGMufP78&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL And the final process is from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium(III)_chloride#Production_of_neodymium_metal 62. Samarium Looking backat the process for cobalt, you’ll end up with samarium oxalate, an insolubleprecipitate which was filtered out. Ignite this in air to make pale yellowsamarium oxide (Sm2O3). Mix this with lithium, and igniteto be left with pure samarium and lithium oxide. The original process was touse lanthanum as the reducing agent for the oxide, but seeing as lithium canreduce lanthanum, it can probably reduce samarium too. Once the fire dies down,pour in mineral oil, chisel out the elemental Sm, and place in a mineraloil-filled container. 59, 63-70. Other Lanthanides I wouldreally suggest buying these, but if you really want to make them, I wouldsuggest finding some monazite-rich sand (or a specimen of monazite), turningeither into a very fine powder, and separating from impurities by magnetism(monazite is highly magnetic). When this is finished, combine with 98% sulfuricacid at 120-150 degrees C for several hours. Then, pour cold water into themix, making lanthanide solutions. Filter out insoluble impurities (sand,quartz, titanium dioxide, zircon, etc.). Once this is done, neutralize the pHwith NaOH to about 3-4. Thorium precipitates out as thorium hydroxide (treat asradioactive when removing). Then, find some ammonium oxalate and pour that into make the insoluble lanthanide oxalates, which can be converted to oxidesthrough heating. Dissolve the product in nitric acid to remove cerium oxide,which is insoluble in nitric acid. Mix with ammonium chloride to get thelanthanide chlorides, and then take them to a specialist to get them separatedinto individual rare earth chlorides. Finally, mix thermite-style with anyalkali / alkali-earth metal and heat under an argon atmosphere to get thedesired rare earth. 72. Hafnium (Hf) To get hafnium, you have to find anelectrode for a plasma torch. Inside the copper casing is a button of purehafnium. 73. Tantalum (Ta) Tantalum can be obtained by buying atantalum electrolytic capacitor. These have a tantalum powder core, a tantalumpentoxide outer shell, and a manganese dioxide shell. Dissolve this inhydrochloric acid, leaving a bunch of manganese chloride powder, some chlorinegas, and a pressed tantalum pellet. Tantalum is highly resistant to acids, sodon’t worry about any tantalum chloride being formed (in fact, you should worrymore about the chlorine being formed). *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 74. Tungsten (W) Tungsten isthat tiny spring-like wire in a light bulb. Crack one open, and get thetungsten (and argon) inside. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 75. Rhenium (Re) Rhenium canbe obtained by reacting perrhenic acid with ammonium chloride to get ammoniumperrhenate. Then react this product with burning hydrogen to obtain a mixturethat contains ammonia (corrosive), water, and rhenium powder. Here is thechemical equation: 2 NH4ReO4 + 7 H2 → 2Re + 8 H2O + 2 NH3 Rhenium compounds are about as toxic as table salt, but little isknown about the toxicity of rhenium itself. Take care. 76. Osmium (Os) Osmium isvery dangerous, like beryllium. It is pyrophoric in powder form (bursts intoflames on contact with air), and reacts with air to form osmium tetroxide, anextremely painful and poisonous gas. A good way to obtain Osmium (and Iridium) is to find apure sample of iridosmine (a mineral), and -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77.Iridium (Ir) To get Iridium, get an Iridium sparkplug. Findthe part that is the center electrode, disassemble the sparkplug to get at it,and this is pure iridium. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 78. Platinum (Pt) Platinum, themost expensive jewelry ingredient, can be obtained by taking anyplatinum-plated jewelry and dissolving it in acid, leaving the unreactiveplatinum shell behind. This can be remelted into a small lump if desired. 79. Gold (Au) Yes, I cantell you how to get the metal of kings. But it requires a lot of hard work. Inevery stream in the world, there is at least a small quantity of gold. To getit, get a good-old fashioned gold pan, and look for a bend in the stream ofyour choice (preferably as near to a mountain as you can get). Pan on theinside curve of that bend, and if the gold’s not there, it’s not anywhere inthat stream. Alternatively, you could buy gold bullion (bullion is discussed inSilver), but it’s currently very expensive, well over $1000 for a cube 1.61 centimeterslong, which is a troy ounce. It’s best for a first-timer to try and go toCalifornia, to the Mother Lode area, and take lessons there. The people ofJamestown Gold Panning are very informative, and were extremely helpful to meon my first real panning and sluicing experience, teaching me severalprofessional techniques. So grab your gold pan, and head out there to collectthe world’s favorite yellow metal. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* Alternatively,you can take any 18k or higher gold and heat it to 1064 degrees C to melt outthe gold. 80. Mercury (Hg) Next toberyllium or arsenic, mercury is one of the most toxic elements I can tell youhow to get. What you have to do is find anything from the 1980’s-1990’s with atemperature-related application (ex: thermometer) and look for a liquid metalsomewhere inside it. Try to extract the Mercury in a cold environment, to keepit as a liquid. Mercury vapor is extremely toxic, and the metal itself canenter through the skin, so use medical gloves, or something that won’t letanything enter your skin. These are being banned, so if your parent is about tothrow one out, stop them and reuse it! Since mercuryis quickly evaporating (heh) from the commercial industry, another way I havefound is to heat powdered cinnabar, a common mineral. This gives mercury vapor,which can be condensed with ice, and sulfur dioxide, both dangerous gases. See more ongetting Sodium for a possible alternate method of getting mercury. To get itout of the amalgam, simply place the amalgam in water. The sodium will reactand dissolve, while the mercury will not. 81. Thallium (Tl) Thallium ishighly toxic, a carcinogen, and enters the body through skin, air and water. Ifyou still want this element, obtain the mineral crookesite, and treating itwith sulfuric acid to produce thallium sulfate. Melt this, and electrolyze theresult to get pure thallium and sulfur. Pick up the thallium with tongs, andplace it in a test tube. Cork it, and you have pure thallium. 82. Lead (Pb) Lead is arelatively safe metal, only toxic when ingested or melted. The easiest way toobtain lead is by going to a store that sells fishing equipment, and buying alead weight. That sounds easy enough, right? *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 83. Bismuth (Bi) To makeBismuth metal, a very simple reaction is required: All you have to do is take11 tablets of Pepto-Bismol and crush them into a very fine powder. Then, placethis into a beaker. Pour half of a solution of 120mL water and 20 mLconcentrated hydrochloric acid (so 70mL total) into the beaker, and stirvigorously. When this begins to foam to the top of the beaker, place themixture in a larger one, and continue stirring for about 5 minutes. Add therest of the acidic solution, and continue stirring for a bit more. Then, filterout the mixture into a flask, so that you are left with a bright pink,see-through liquid. Take one piece of aluminum foil and add it to the mix. Thealuminum will initiate a displacement reaction with the bismuth chloride,making aluminum chloride and bismuth metal. Wait until none of the foil isleft, then filter out the bismuth. I would suggest remelting this under mineraloil to get the shiniest metal possible (perhaps on your home stove somehow). Keep in mindthat if you really want to, you can buy some bismuth crystals from rock and gemtourist shops. It’s not very cheap, but the product is purer and better lookingthan what we obtain here. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 94. Plutonium (Pu) Ah, plutonium,the stuff that has inspired radioactivity-themed objects for quite a while. Toget even a small amount of plutonium, you will have to pay quite expensively.Plutonium is found in the batteries of pacemakers, devices that regulateheartbeat. 95. Americium (Am) This is the thirdradioactive element I will teach you how to get, and also the easiest. To getamericium, you have to take apart a smoke detector. What you will find (at thecenter, encased in a few shells of aluminum) is 0.9 micrograms of americium.Seal this in a vial made of or coated with LEAD, to prevent the radioactivityfrom getting to you. *This experiment has been successfullyattempted by the author.* 96. Curium (Cu) Same asplutonium.
StringJunky Posted December 29, 2011 Posted December 29, 2011 (edited) If you ever want the radioactive hydrogen isotope Tritium, buy a Betalight which is a phosphorised capsule with the gas inside like this: http://www.fishingmegastore.com/fox-beta-light-fo0462~chap_6833.html Also note, fishing weights below 1oz are not lead because in the UK it is illegal to use lead for weights in fishing below that. This may be to your benefit if you are looking for Tungsten as some split shot is made with it..they can also be made of Tin or alloys of it. To guarantee that a fishing weight is lead in the UK buy one 1.1oz or more. http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/Tungsten-Split-Shot/products/Tungsten Edited December 29, 2011 by StringJunky
Chemistoftheelements Posted December 29, 2011 Posted December 29, 2011 Congratulations to elementcollector1 on an outstanding effort into element producing and collecting. Even I don’t have the patience to try out all the above. We really need to hear more of this kind of thing, as I suspect there are a lot more of us that you’d think from searches on the internet. Theo Gray was one of my heros, but unfortunately, his websites don’t seem to have been updated for a long time: http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/index.html http://www.periodictable.com/ To anyone who's interested, if you read these websites carefully, there are quite a few mentions of sources of the elements. Sorry if these have been mentioned before, but I've only just joined this forum. One caveat, though. I have stuck to the surviving primordial elements- I don’t mess with anything more radioactive than uraninite, which is the most radioactive natural substance you can encounter on earth. In the event of an accident, your body isn’t meant to deal with the sort of dose of radiation may encounter from the likes of the Am in smoke detectors. If you inhale a partice , it may sit there in your lung for a long time doing untold harm. Sorry to seem a bit alarmist, but anything outside the 83 primordials is a step too far.
elementcollector1 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Posted December 29, 2011 Excellent point, Chemist. Radioactives are not to be messed with, and I only included those entries for the extremely serious, and above all PREPARED element collector. (Thanks for the praise, by the way!) As for Am, I keep mine underneath cone-shaped lead fishing weights. Just in case. On a relevant note, Am and possibly U and Th are the only three radioactive elements that I would even consider collecting, mainly because there are some ways to get them. And for the latter two, I would probably make a lead-sheeting cube or other container so I can sleep well at night.
Chemistoftheelements Posted December 29, 2011 Posted December 29, 2011 Excellent point, Chemist. Radioactives are not to be messed with, and I only included those entries for the extremely serious, and above all PREPARED element collector. (Thanks for the praise, by the way!) As for Am, I keep mine underneath cone-shaped lead fishing weights. Just in case. On a relevant note, Am and possibly U and Th are the only three radioactive elements that I would even consider collecting, mainly because there are some ways to get them. And for the latter two, I would probably make a lead-sheeting cube or other container so I can sleep well at night. Well, you’re braver than me; I hope your Pb does the job with your Am! As for U and Th, they’re amoung the primordials, i.e. have extremely long half- lives- over a million times longer than the most stable isotope of Am, so in theory shielding wouldn’t be necessary for gram quantities, but sealing in glass would be recommendable to prevent Rn escape. In these 2 cases, it’s probably advisable to go for minerals, as getting the elements would be in many cases be quite difficult, I would think.
elementcollector1 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Posted December 29, 2011 http://www.element-collection.com/RGB_Elements_OCT04_rev05.pdf This was the best bet I got for Th, possibly Ra and Pm, and maybe U. http://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16_17_69&products_id=211 Sigh... $50 for 3 grams of U-238. Apparently UN is selling this stuff way overpriced, because the U.S. has a lot of depleted uranium. As for the sealing in glass, I can hopefully get a case of 144 ampoules soon, so we'll see. (When I get them, I think I'll just go on an ampouling spree.
elementcollector1 Posted December 30, 2011 Author Posted December 30, 2011 Update for Lanthanum: 57. Lanthanum (La) See Cerium below, during which you get the lanthanum ion insolution. Once you have enough cerium oxide, filter this out to get a clearsolution of lanthanum and magnesium chloride, which can be boiled down anddehydrated somewhat to a white powder. Place these in sulfuric acid toprecipitate lanthanum sulfate, a highly insoluble chemical, while magnesiumsulfate stays in solution. Reconvert the sulfate to chloride, and boil downagain to obtain a similar, but much purer white salt. Mix this with lithium ormagnesium metal in the molar ratios of 245:21 (Li) or 491:73 (Mg) by weight.Light this to obtain pure Lanthanum. When the reaction has died down, if thereis any molten metal present, attempt to remove it. If not, let the mixture coolto room temperature or lower, and chisel out the reaction results. Any blobs ofmetal should immediately be placed in a container of mineral oil, preferablythe container you intend to keep them in.
StringJunky Posted December 30, 2011 Posted December 30, 2011 Here's some proper radioactive material containers..shouldn't be too difficult to conjure up your own with a suitable box and the lead sheet they sell: http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/containers.html
teiu88 Posted December 30, 2011 Posted December 30, 2011 76. Osmium (Os) Osmium isvery dangerous, like beryllium. It is pyrophoric in powder form (bursts intoflames on contact with air), and reacts with air to form osmium tetroxide, anextremely painful and poisonous gas.A good way to obtain Osmium (and Iridium) is to find apure sample of iridosmine (a mineral), and -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is there a --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------? And also, osmium is safe in a lump.
elementcollector1 Posted December 30, 2011 Author Posted December 30, 2011 Why is there a --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------? And also, osmium is safe in a lump. There is a --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- because I haven't found any way to continue from there. So, I put a bunch of dashes in the hopes that someone would fill in the blank. And yes, I mentioned it as being pyrophoric as powder. Maybe there should be an 'only' in there?
teiu88 Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 I found this about osmium isolation: Isolation: it would not normally be necessary to make a sample of osmium in the laboratory as the metal is available, at a price, commercially. The industrial extraction of osmium is complex as the metal occurs in ores mixed with other metals such as ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, platinum, and gold. Sometimes extraction of the precious metals such as iridium, rhodium, platinum and palladium is the main focus of a partiular industrial operation while in other cases it is a byproduct. The extraction is complex because of the other metals present and only worthwhile since osmium is useful as a specialist metal and is the basis of some catalysts in industry. Preliminary treatment of the ore or base metal byproduct is required to remove silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. The residue is melted with sodium bisulphate (NaHSO4) and the resulting mixture extracted with water to give a solution containing rhodium sulphate, Rh2(SO4)3. The insoluble residue contains the osmium. The residue is melted with Na2O2 and extracted into water to extract the ruthenium and osmium salts (including [RuO4]2- and [OsO4(OH)2]2-). The residue contains iridium oxide, IrO2. Reaction of the salt with chlorine gas gives the volatile oxides RuO4 and OsO4. The osmium oxide is dissolved by treatment with alcoholic sodium hydroxide to form Na2[OsO2(OH)4], and the osmium precipiated out as pure OsCl2O2(NH3)4 by treatment with NH4Cl. Evaporation to dryness and burning under hydrogen gas gives pure osmium.
elementcollector1 Posted January 3, 2012 Author Posted January 3, 2012 A lot of different chemicals needed for that... are there any current common applications of osmium? I know one is in osmiridium fountain pens, but those things are more expensive than pure samples of both elements.
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