A great day for my collection!

[budullewraagh]

yeah, i had a run-in with hydrogen sulfide. i was really paranoid because when the gas had diffused away i had thought it was still possible that my sense of smell was numbed and that i was still exposed to the gas.

 

thiocyanites(sp?)

thiocyanates, but close enough

[ed84c]

hmm what does HCN smell like then?

[budullewraagh]

bitter almonds

[ed84c]

does that mean that Almonds have aromatic compounds similar to that of HCN, or is a smell as humanly interpreted, not chemically related to what it smells like?, if you see what i mean?

[jdurg]

does that mean that Almonds have aromatic compounds similar to that of HCN, or is a smell as humanly interpreted, not chemically related to what it smells like?, if you see what i mean?

 

 

Yes, that is true. Almonds have a compound in them which has a cyanide portion to it which is readily noticed when the almonds go bad. You could probably do a quick google search and find out the exact details. A lot of fruits have a cyanide producing compound in them called amygdalin(sp?). Peach pits, apple seeds, and a bunch of other 'innards' have it. I know that if you were to eat enough apple seeds or a few peach pits, you can get severely ill. There have been quite a few documented ER cases of small children eating too many apple seeds and displaying the classic cyanide poisoning symptoms.

[ed84c]

oh hell, i used to always eat apple cores.....

 

Is there any relation from that to Bluebell seeds? (large stocks of HCN).

 

What is the amydalin's purpouse or is it just to make HCN?

[budullewraagh]

just as a follow-up, you dont need to worry about almonds because the ones sold in stores arent bitter. they check very carefully

[jdurg]

Amygdalin is a compound that breaks down into HCN in the digestive tract of someone who eats it. It's a defense mechanism for the plant to prevent animals from digesting its seeds.

[budullewraagh]

that's really hot. damn i wish i could make cyanogen halides just to piss things off that tried to eat me

[Gilded]

"that's really hot. damn i wish i could make cyanogen halides just to piss things off that tried to eat me"

 

Yeah well, at the point you're being digested it's a bit too late to get out of the situation in one piece (literally). )

[budullewraagh]

not the point. i want to screw over anything that eats me. i have to fight like 10 large animals off every day on my way to school. just in case i ever get eaten, i want them to die...then the other animals can eat the one that ate me and died. then they will all die. it's glorious

[Gilded]

Even animals recognize the fact that you shouldn't eat New Yorkers nor animals that have died due to eating New Yorkers. And wasn't there a case where a man jumped into a tiger cage naked in a zoo in/near NY and got away unharmed? )

 

Btw, I think jdurg is starting to feel offended about now since we're discussing completely different topics and ignoring his incredible luck.

[raivo]

As much as i know seeds from fresh fruits never contain cyanides but i have heard of one cyanide poisoning case in former russia. Death toll was nearly 20. Victims drank lot of wine that was made of plums that also contained stones during all process of wine-making.

[ed84c]

Amygdalin is a compound that breaks down into HCN in the digestive tract of someone who eats it. It's a defense mechanism for the plant to prevent animals from digesting its seeds.

 

I dont know why, but that is probably the most amusing plant defence! ROFLOL!

[Gilded]

"As much as i know seeds from fresh fruits never contain cyanides but i have heard of one cyanide poisoning case in former russia."

 

Former Russia? You mean Soviet Union? Or an area that separated from the commies when Soviet Union fell? Anyhow, Russians tend to drink much, that's for sure. And there have been so many similar cases (involving methanol and compounds like cyanide that are rather unhealthy to consume).

[budullewraagh]

eek, methanol instead of ethanol? sounds deadly

[Gilded]

Or perhaps methanol was more of an Estonia-problem... I recall there being about 10 deaths a week at one point because of methanol poisoning.

 

Anyhow, YT will soon come and smack us with a chili bowl if we don't get back on topic (whatever it might be, I'm clueless )

[ed84c]

Is that why distilling without a linsence in this country is illegal?

[raivo]

Yes, methanole poisoning took more than 68 lives during one month in Estonia at 2002. This was due of one small illegal distilling plant. Possible methanole content in home distilled alcohol is surely one of reasons why home distillation is illegal.

 

That incident with cyanide poisoning was somewher in southern Russia at seventies. (I have lost exact record) Russia of course was part of Sowiet Union at that time.

[jdurg]

A little bump here and a move back on topic. How is everyone's collection going? Mine's still going strong and the iridium just looks great. I still can't believe how much this thing has grown. The uranium will be coming in a few weeks, and I really can't wait to see that. (Of course this is all depending on how the lead-lined box performs in its test.) Has anybody else here made any major additions to the collection?

[Gilded]

These came on Tuesday:

 

Bromine (very nice, about 3ml, fun to watch), cesium (just a 50mg micro-ampoule, looks cool though), tungsten (cool and heavy, long but thin cylinder, probably good for a rail-nail-gun type of cannon ), palladium (quite shiny) and iron (electrolytic chips, very beautiful and funny shaped considering it's just... well, iron ).

 

Coming from David Hamric, ordered last Thursday:

Phosphorous, iodine (I can't resist making some NI3 as it's in a jar instead of ampoule ), beryllium (1g pearls 2x, other for neutron experiments), magnesium (3g bars 2x, other for burning and stuff ), gold (1g pearl, finally ), rhenium (1g pearl), tungsten (yeah I know I got it already, but as it was cheap I decided to buy another one and see which one fits better for gauss gun or similar experiments :> ) and calcium (an ampouled bar). Yay.

[jdurg]

Very cool! Just one question: Which Pd sample did you get from Smart Elements? The only reason I ask is that on their website they are selling a one ounce bar of palladium for well over $500 U.S. dollars. That's over twice as much as it actually costs. (You can get one ounce Pd bars off of E-Bay for about $210 right now). I'm just hoping you didn't spend too much on it.

 

Nice order from Dave. I've bought so many things from him and have NEVER been dissapointed. The only time something went wrong was the first time I bought off of him. I had picked up some lanthanides which broke their containers during shipping thus causing them to oxidize since the oil went all over the place. He quickly shipped out replacment vials and samples even though the samples I had weren't in all that bad of a shape. I was very impressed with the promptness and how he took care of everything. Ever since then, I've been one of his most loyal supporters and promoters. I even stopped by his place last year to help him setup a chlorine generation/ampouling station. You're going to be VERY happy with the little gold pearl. They're pretty neat, especially if you put it near a similar platinum, iridium, and osmium one. Another thing I like about buying from Dave is that he's very fair and reasonable with his prices and sample sizes. I never feel like I'm being ripped off. He has also done some trades with me and taken off my hands extra elements that I had no need for and giving me massive discounts on other things in his store as a result. Let us know when the stuff arrives.

[Gilded]

"I'm just hoping you didn't spend too much on it."

 

Yeah the bar was indeed over-priced (I recall the national market price of palladium being somewhere around 300$/troy ounce last time I checked). I bought a small pearl, as it looked very cool and didn't cost too much.

 

And for the arrival, stuff within EU moves rather quickly (the Smart Elements/RGB orders arrived in three days every time IIRC), but from U.S. it takes quite a while, so they'll probably be here next week, hopefully on Monday. And then I'm off to borrow some ammonia from my 8th-9th grade chemistry teacher.

 

Also, I wonder if one could melt beryllium into disc or plate shape without an argon atmosphere or vacuum, as I'm not sure how easily it oxidizes.

[budullewraagh]

you probably don't want to haet beryllium. it's madly toxic and heating it only aggrevates it so to speak. it will probably oxidize in an oxygen-containing atmosphere

[Gilded]

I don't think if it's too much harm if you just heat a solid pearl in a low-O atmosphere and I recall beryllium oxide being non-toxic (correct me if I'm wrong, please don't try to eat it anyway ). Beryllium powder as mentioned many, many times before is just pure evil, and even small amount of fine powder can contaminate several thousand cubic meters to hazardous levels.

 

Edit: It appears beryllium oxide is so insanely toxic that about 40 milligrams would kill me. Bugger.