In today's video,
we are going to be showing you
some experiments using gallium,
aluminum, and acid.
[Music]
We've done some fun experiments
with gallium in the past,
including making some
little Lego men,
full gallium copy of my face,
and we've just melted it down,
and played with it.
Today, we want to look
at a little bit more of some
of the chemistry behind gallium,
and how it reacts
with some other stuff.
Here's the basic idea.
We are going to be
taking our gallium,
and we are going to be putting
it through a few basic tests
to show you just
how different it is.
So gallium is the element 31,
and it's actually in
the same family of some metals
that you may be familiar
with, like aluminum,
but there are
some vast differences.
We want to show you
what some of those are.
Most famously, gallium
has a melting temperature
that is way lower than aluminum,
and lower than almost
any other metal.
This cast of my face
is probably about 60%
of all of the gallium we have,
maybe more, and we need it
for some experiments.
So this, unfortunately,
is now going to get destroyed.
[Music]
My face is now melted.
So we've got plenty
of liquid gallium to play with.
Let's see what we
can do with it.
Gallium melts to a liquid
at about 85 and 1/2
degrees Fahrenheit,
which is about 29 and
1/2 degrees Celsius.
This gallium,
which was on the stove,
even though it was
on its lowest setting is
quite a bit warmer than that,
hot enough that it's
a little bit uncomfortable
to stick our hands in
for any extended period of time,
but we can still do it
for just a second,
and you can see
how it reacts and moves.
So some people think
that gallium is toxic
or not safe to handle,
that's simply not true.
Mercury, which looks
very similar is,
but gallium, as
far as we know,
it's just fine.
And when she says we,
she doesn't mean we
didn't do any research.
We as in all tests indicate
that metallic gallium is safe.
One note, although it's
not toxic, it does have a
tendency to stain a little bit,
like it just
leaves some residue.
Well, we don't feel
like we need to be wearing
gloves for safety reasons.
We do like wearing gloves
for staining reasons.
This should come out
with just soap and water though.
Soda cans are
made from aluminum,
and aluminum reacts
interestingly with gallium.
We're going to do an experiment
to show that effect.
So the aluminum
can has like paint,
and it has a coating on it
so that your drink is absorbing
aluminum as you drinking it.
So what we're going to do is
we're going to sand the bottom
of this can a little bit,
we're going to pour some of
our molten gallium into a bowl,
and we're going to set
the can in there,
and we're going to let
it sit for a while,
and see what it does.
Aluminum usually has
an oxide layer on it,
even when it's not painted.
Now, that actually keeps it
from reacting with water
and other things,
but it's also going to keep it
from reacting to the gallium.
So not just the paint,
but the oxide layer
itself has to come off,
and then you'll actually see
how quickly it
will soak that up.
Perfect.
We're going to place
that on the stove,
in the spot
that keeps it warm,
and just let it sit and absorb.
This right here is
some aluminum mesh.
Useful for a lot of things,
but right now,
we're just going
to use it because...
>> It's aluminum.
>> It's aluminum.
Regular sheet of aluminum foil.
You can tear it.
It tears fairly easily,
but it also doesn't
just fall apart.
Nothing's happened to it.
However, take a little bit
of the gallium.
We got a little bead out there.
I'm just going to spread
that around on the surface.
[Music]
Just destroyed.
This soda can has now
been sitting in this gallium
for quite a while.
We actually left a soda can
in the gallium overnight,
and so it's really had
a chance to absorb a lot.
The gallium did actually
solidify at one point,
so it wasn't necessarily
sitting in there
like constantly overnight
because it only has the effect
when gallium is actually liquid
and can be absorbed.
So it's several hours worth,
and and there's already some
deformations that have happened.
You can actually,
if you can see
into the can, well,
if you can see along the side,
this entire side of the can
is just shattered.
Also, you can see
that the can is shorter.
Like this can is raised
up higher at the bottom,
but it's still lower
down than this one.
Our can is just,
I think melting down.
I want to try and--
I'm going to try and pick it up.
The bottom is like--
Oh, the bottom just tore open
when it caught on this other
piece of aliminum.
Okay.
So this is interesting.
Where that air bubble was,
where we couldn't
actually get it.
>> The very bottom still ##--
>> The very bottom is just fine,
because there was an air bubble
protecting it from the gallium.
So this is an aluminum can,
with about the structural
integrity of aluminum foil.
Maybe a little, yeah,
less than aluminum foil.
And it's not just where it was.
You can see that it was cracking
all the way up the edges,
and this is just tearing
as I touch it like newspaper.
There it goes.
RIght there.
So this...
This what were pulling
off right now,
I think is the plastic coating
that's on the inside
of aluminum cans,
which is now
also soaking gallium.
So it looks like metal.
But this right here,
so has now had
that coating removed.
So this is just aluminum,
that's soaked up gallium.
It wasn't in direct
contact in the bottom,
but just falls to pieces.
Oh, man.
I mean, a normal aluminum
can isn't hard to crunch,
but it doesn't fall
into pieces like that just did.
And most of that
can wasn't in the gallium,
it was just connected to it,
and it just drinks
the gallium up into the metal.
All right, aluminum mesh.
Down where it was in contact
is just falling apart.
Aluminum reacts to water.
We had a lot of aluminum
sitting in here.
I want to know
if this gallium will now react
to water even just a little bit.
Let's pour a drop
of water in, and see
if it does anything.
Damn.
This gallium soaked
up so much aluminum,
it's now reacting to water.
Now, if you saw our experiments
before when we
were dripping the gallium
into a glass of water,
it wasn't doing anything.
It was just sort of pebbling up.
This is not gallium
supposed to do.
This is the aluminum.
So for our next test,
we are actually going
to try something
that we have seen before.
It's called the
Gallium Beating Heart.
Now, you take about 2 grams
worth of gallium.
You drop it into sulfuric acid.
Then you introduce a metal rod.
It has to be an iron rod,
and when you do that,
it causes the gallium to expand
and contract so fast,
it actually looks
like a beating heart.
So we've got
our six more concentration
of sulfuric acid here,
which has been warming
up gently on the stove.
It should be warm enough
that it will melt are
two pieces of gallium,
which will then for ito beads,
which will then join together.
We'll start with one,
just in case.
[Music]
So the hydrogen is still
coming off of this,
but as soon as I touch it
with a piece of iron,
the gallium itself should relax.
That's we want to have happen.
Soon as I let go,
it's going to contract,
and we want to see that change.
There you go.
You can see the bead is moving.
It's not just
being pushed by the iron,
it's actually reacting
to the iron.
It's running away from it.
I'm not moving, guys.
It's doing that on its own.
[Music]
Okay, so this is kind of cool.
As soon as he does
that, you can see
that the whole piece
of gallium relaxes.
So that's what's happening here.
I think I said it
a few times already,
but it's contracting
and relaxing.
The iron is actually
causing it to relax?
So what's causing
that little beating
heart is that...
Iron comes in contact with it,
which makes it relax
just a little bit,
but it relaxes out
from under the iron,
so it's no longer
touching the iron,
and so it beats back up.
And then it beats back up
and touches the iron again,
and the whole cycle just starts
and goes over and over.
Which is also why
we're able to push it around
without even really touching it.
Another test we're gonna try is
this rather solid aluminum bar.
We'll just sand this
down a little bit,
and sit in our warm gallium.
In this one,
we're actually going
to let go for a while.
This is going to be heating up
on our stove for about two days,
because I really want to give
it a chance soaked through.
Okay.
Well, we actually pulled
a cooking show trick,
and we didn't put this in,
and let it sit live right now.
I've put one of these bars
into some gallium two days ago,
and now, we're showing
you what happens
when you pull it out.
But it really has been sitting
for two days so...
That completely intact aluminum
bar got eaten away a lot.
Before and after.
These were exactly
the same length too.
So one thing I do want
to test is the strength.
I don't know how this one
will hold up to this one.
So I'm just going
to take a hammer.
I'm gonna hit this one
for a control test,
and then I hit this one and see
if it's any different.
I haven't done this before,
so I'm not sure
how it's going to go.
[Music]
It slightly dented it.
That's about all.
Let's try it with this one.
[Music]
Oh, well, it...
It wasn't as fragile as I
thought it was going to be,
but it is definitely
still coming apart.
It looks like
metallic tree bark.
That's kind of coolest,
like aluminum core.
Very organic looking
texture on it.
More robust than I thought
it was going to be,
but this is not what happens
to regular aluminum.
That has just
turned into shards.
We have melted down
some aluminum in our furnace,
and now we have
some solid gallium pieces,
and we want to see what happens
if we put the solid gallium
into the liquid aluminum.
I know it will melt them,
but I want to see
if it'll melt them down well,
if it will turn
into all one alloy,
and then see if that's
any different after we pour
that out, and let it cool down.
[Music]
It's got some slag in it,
but it's molten.
[Music]
The aluminum is reacting
to the water.
Yep, almost instantly.
Yep, that's pretty normal.
But we're using sand,
so that all of that reacting
boiling water can escape down,
and it doesn't cause
the aluminum to pop up.
Do you think it's actually going
to stay together in one piece,
or is it going to be too brittle
and just fall apart?
I think it'll stay together.
I think it's going to be
really really weak bar here.
See?
Okay.
This is what I want.
I want to know.
Nope.
That just fall apart?
It's just--
it fell right apart.
Let's see if that same thing
happened with the big ones,
but that is very weak so far.
>> It's just like--
>> Crumbly almost.
It's like sand.
It's not holding
together at all.
Like it's going to form,
it's going to
solidify just fine,
but we're going to be able
to just crush this.
[Music]
We now have an alloy
with gallium and aluminum here.
Let's just to see
what happens when I drop it.
>> Yes.
>> It's like shock.
It's fragile.
Wow.
Very fragile.
The world's worst metal
to construct with,
gallium-aluminum alloy.
So this is just been soaking
in the water for just a minute,
and like I think it's actually
extracting the gallium
from the aluminum here.
It's just all the water
is reacting with the aluminum,
and then what gets left behind
is little gallium silver beads.
Our aluminum-gallium bar
that we broke into lots
of pieces has now been sitting
in the water overnight,
and I am very surprised
at what happened.
It is amazing.
I thought maybe it would
like fall apart a little bit,
but this is...
Now, you can't really
see into the liquid.
The liquid is just opaque gray,
but we still
have hydrogen rising.
So the gallium
itself completely ruined.
This is fun too because,
what's coming off the,
all these bubbles forming?
[Music]
Okay, but now...
Check out-- Check out
what happens to the metal rod
that we made.
We now have metallic sponge.
It like--
It just absorbed water.
It just pulled itself apart,
sucking in the water.
It barely holds itself together.
I can squish it.
All of those bar pieces
just turned into this.
I can't even pick one up
without breaking it.
It smooshes.
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