BlazeXploder Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 Hey hey people, Im going to be starting a very very long summer soon, so I need to plan what ill be doing (I have approx. 12 weeks!). So, I want to try and make some chemicals and extract some elements from stuff I have at home. So, I require help and chemical knowledge on how to get some of the chemicals Im looking for! So, basically, I can buy about 20 1ml or 5ml jars, and I plan to put the elements and chemicals into these (I dont intend to hold large quantities of anything!). ELEMENTS ACCOUNTED FOR ARE CROSSED OUT! Hydrogen is easy enough (not exactly a challenge!). Helium is challenge, but I reckon if I turn a smoke detector upside down and leave it under an up turned beaker, it should get enough helium after a few weeks to be put into the jars I plan. Lithium can be taken from a battery Beryllium I need help with! I have no idea what would contain it... Boron. Now this is a bit of an issue, I know Borax contains it, but extracting it could raise issues. I dont mind this being oxidised so that it wont be too reactive. Carbon I know how to get in a few ways... Nitrogen isnt going to get purer than whats in the air. I suppose all of these are going to be impure Oxygen is in the air, but purer oxygen should be optainable with the hydrogen, no? Flourine is far more difficult, but I do have high flouride toothpaste. Perhaps its better to just leave it as it is? Neon is practically unobtainable, unless I could break a lightbulb open and take it from that source Sodium should be obtainable from salt, but as electrolysis requires it to be molten (at 801 degrees no less) then ill end up leaving it as salt probably. Or buying some..which I dont really want to do. Any further starts getting a little laborius, but feel free to suggest compounds to try as well! COMPOUNDS: Potassium Chloride (Distilled) Water Alum (Sodium Acetate) Silver Nitrate
elementcollector1 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 Hey hey people, Im going to be starting a very very long summer soon, so I need to plan what ill be doing (I have approx. 12 weeks!). So, I want to try and make some chemicals and extract some elements from stuff I have at home. So, I require help and chemical knowledge on how to get some of the chemicals Im looking for! So, basically, I can buy about 20 1ml or 5ml jars, and I plan to put the elements and chemicals into these (I dont intend to hold large quantities of anything!). ELEMENTS ACCOUNTED FOR ARE CROSSED OUT! Hydrogen is easy enough (not exactly a challenge!). Helium is challenge, but I reckon if I turn a smoke detector upside down and leave it under an up turned beaker, it should get enough helium after a few weeks to be put into the jars I plan. Lithium can be taken from a battery Beryllium I need help with! I have no idea what would contain it... Boron. Now this is a bit of an issue, I know Borax contains it, but extracting it could raise issues. I dont mind this being oxidised so that it wont be too reactive. Carbon I know how to get in a few ways... Nitrogen isnt going to get purer than whats in the air. I suppose all of these are going to be impure Oxygen is in the air, but purer oxygen should be optainable with the hydrogen, no? Flourine is far more difficult, but I do have high flouride toothpaste. Perhaps its better to just leave it as it is? Neon is practically unobtainable, unless I could break a lightbulb open and take it from that source Sodium should be obtainable from salt, but as electrolysis requires it to be molten (at 801 degrees no less) then ill end up leaving it as salt probably. Or buying some..which I dont really want to do. Any further starts getting a little laborius, but feel free to suggest compounds to try as well! COMPOUNDS: Potassium Chloride (Distilled) Water Alum (Sodium Acetate) Silver Nitrate I'll do you a favor and link you to my guide. This should help immensely. http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/59176-getting-the-elements/
BlazeXploder Posted February 26, 2012 Author Posted February 26, 2012 Thanks for the reply, will be an immense help, but im not sure how I can conduct that kind of thing in my back garden! Some of them are a great help, but then again, im not sure where to get things like peach neon lights!
elementcollector1 Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Thanks for the reply, will be an immense help, but im not sure how I can conduct that kind of thing in my back garden! Some of them are a great help, but then again, im not sure where to get things like peach neon lights! Sorry, that's an old version. This new one is still huge, but should be more up-to-date. 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 © 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 or catalyzed magnesium reduction of moltencaustic potash (KOH). KOH’s melting point is 680 degrees F, and it is commonlyfound as a drain cleaner. I found mine on Amazon as “Red Hot Devil Potash”. Another wayto get KOH is to do electrolysis of aqueous KCl, or salt substitute. This mighttake a few days, and be hard to notice, but be sure to wait until no reactionis present (even with a 9V battery). Place 2.4grams of magnesium powder or turnings inside an Erlenmeyer. Next, place 5 gramsof potassium hydroxide, flakes, granules or otherwise, into the flask. Next,pour in either 20mL of tetrahydronapthalene or 50 mL Shellsol D70 (your localgasoline) or mineral oil (not recommended). Now attach a condenser withaluminum foil loosely attached on the end to the flask, and begin heating toreflux. If you’re using mineral oil, this may not heat to reflux, so just heatto 200 C. Next, you add the catalyst: tertiary amyl alcohol, aka 2-methyl2-butanol. Tert-butanol is also a good one to use. Add 0.4mL of either, and add.1mL more 6 times over an hour (.1mL every 10 minutes). The first sign ofpotassium production are visible and very small spheres, that at first looklike bubbles but never seem to pop. These are your potassium. Keep heatinguntil they coalesce into larger spheres (this goes much faster with the THNalcohol). If the spheres darken into a black sand, add another .1mL of whatevercatalyst you’re using, and wait for about twenty seconds before adding moreuntil the color changes back to shiny, molten metal. If you don’t see anyspheres yet, don’t worry, as these can take hours to form. When there is nomore magnesium, the reaction is done. Turn off the heat and leave the reactionmix to cool. Finally, dump the entire mix into some toluene (from hardwarestores) to clean and wash the potassium. Finally, fill an ampoule with mineraloil and seal the potassium inside. Notes: If themagnesium is oxidized, this reaction might not work. To fix this, boil themagnesium inside the solvent without adding the potassium hydroxide, until itis clean and shiny again. To clean all the beakers, flasks and apparati thathave handled potassium, add isopropanol to these, controlling the bubbling.When the bubbling stops, it is safe to wash. Make sure it’s stopped COMPLETELY,though. 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, drywallplaster, and maybe ground fluorite powder, and pick out the lumps of titaniummetal 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, resultingin gaseous bromine. Some liquid bromine will also be formed, and this can becollected 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 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) First, obtaina specimen of molybdenite from a local rock shop. Then, powder and heat thiswith a blowtorch to produce molybdenum oxide. Reduce this with aluminum powder,or hydrogen 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 you don’twant 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, 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 magnesium sulfatestays in solution. Reconvert the sulfate to chloride, and boil down again toobtain a similar, but much purer white salt. Mix this with lithium or magnesiummetal in the molar ratios of 245:21 (Li) or 491:73 (Mg) by weight. Light thisto obtain pure Lanthanum. When the reaction has died down, if there is anymolten metal present, attempt to remove it. If not, let the mixture cool toroom 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. 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. Don’t add it all at once, because this replaces the cerium oxide withiron hydroxide for some reason. Filter this out, saving the filtered solution.Reconvert the oxide to chloride by placing the tan powder in fresh acid, andboil down to crystals (don’t boil too long, this will make CeOCl instead). Drythese, and powder them until they are very fine. Mix these with lithium orpossibly magnesium (in powder form for the latter) in a 246.5:21 or 493:73ratio by weight, respectively, and light. Dig out the elemental cerium after,and quickly protect 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. Anotherpossible way to make neodymium chloride is to burn the magnet in a torch untilit is completely oxidized, inside and out. Place this in water to obtain eitherNd2O3 or Nd(OH)3 mixed with iron oxide, theboron trioxide being removed in the process. Filter out the result and attemptto magnetize the ferric oxide away. If this doesn’t work, pour in hydrochloricacid to convert the two to chlorides, boil down and wash with isopropylalcohol. This should leave you with pure, hydrated neodymium chloride, again adark 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. In everystream in the world, there is at least a small quantity of gold. To get it, geta good-old fashioned gold pan, and look for a bend in the stream of your choice(preferably as near to a mountain as you can get). Pan on the inside curve ofthat bend, and if the gold’s not there, it’s not anywhere in that stream.Alternatively, you could buy gold bullion (bullion is discussed in Silver), butit’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 mL concentratedhydrochloric acid (so 70mL total) into the beaker, and stir vigorously. Whenthis begins to foam to the top of the beaker, place the mixture in a largerone, and continue stirring for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the acidicsolution, and continue stirring for a bit more. Then, filter out the mixtureinto a flask, so that you are left with a bright pink, see-through liquid. Takeone piece of aluminum foil and add it to the mix. The aluminum will initiate adisplacement reaction with the bismuth chloride, making aluminum chloride andbismuth metal. Wait until none of the foil is left, then filter out thebismuth. I would suggest remelting this under mineral oil to get the shiniestmetal possible (perhaps on your home stove somehow). Keep in mind thatif 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 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 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.
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