Sciencemadness Discussion Board - I need $20 worth of Gallium!

I need $20 worth of Gallium!

ChemHack - 1-2-2006 at 09:34

I need some Ga Gallium metal ASAP. I'm looking to spend $20 plus shipping. Email or message!

woelen - 1-2-2006 at 10:54

Be prepared to pay a little more. For $20 you'll have a hard time finding a source for this element. Here are some sources, which can ship it to you for approximately $30 - $50, depending on quantity (20 - 30 grams). One of the sources is US-based, the other is EU-based.

http://www.emovendo.net/store/customer/home.php?cat=255
http://www.elemente.at.cx/ (see elements link and then select gallium)

unionised - 1-2-2006 at 13:46

You can get gallium on ebay (UK) for about a Euro a gram- shipping from Germany may not be cheap (I can't tell where you are) and the stuff is forbidden for air transport so it may be slow.

What on earth do you need Ga for?

[Edited on 1-2-2006 by unionised]

Misanthropy - 31-5-2006 at 20:36

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZsmartQ2del...

unionised - 1-6-2006 at 10:31

Perhaps a little late in the day.

JohnWW - 2-6-2006 at 03:47

Just out of curiosity - what do you want the Ga for, ChemHack?
The most important use of it is in high-temperature thermometers, because of its very long liquid temperature range, melting at 30ºC but boiling at over 1.,000 ºC. It is also used in some low-temperature alloys. Its other important use is in gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors for some types of transistors for circuits, doped with slight excesses of either Ga or As, or as an electron-deficient doping agent in Ge or Si semiconductor transistors. As for its other chemical properties, it is otherwise very similar to Al, e.g. forming galliohydrides, similar to aluminohydrides (AlH4-) which are used as powerful organic reducing agents, and forming alums.

Vitus_Verdegast - 10-6-2006 at 09:40

In many EU countries "fever thermometers", which used to contain mercury, now contain gallium as a non-toxic substitute.

nk - 28-6-2006 at 22:06

Gallium is not non-toxic. I don't know where you got that idea from. Check out an MSDS. Perhaps, not as nasty as Mercury, but still not good to just mess around with. Every sample I've ever played with was enclosed in glass.

[edit: It has "low toxicity" whatever that is supposed to mean. But that's not the same as it being non-toxic.]

[Edited on 29-6-2006 by nk]

unionised - 29-6-2006 at 10:07

I just did a Google search for gallium mdhs. I didn't see anything scary. The oxide poisons mice if you feed them something like 1% of their bodyweight.

Jdurg - 30-6-2006 at 10:16

Quote:

Originally posted by nk
Gallium is not non-toxic. I don't know where you got that idea from. Check out an MSDS. Perhaps, not as nasty as Mercury, but still not good to just mess around with. Every sample I've ever played with was enclosed in glass.

[edit: It has "low toxicity" whatever that is supposed to mean. But that's not the same as it being non-toxic.]

[Edited on 29-6-2006 by nk]

If you read the MSDS for water, you'll see that water is classified as "mildly toxic" as well. Material Safety Data Sheets are good for general information, but one would be foolish to rely on them for specific hazard information, etc. etc. I've swallowed plenty of gallium metal myself and there have been ZERO side effects. The toxicity is only evident if you ingest an amount that would be insanely expensive, or foolish to ingest. (Pretty much the same as water. If you take in a whole lot of water, you will die. The thing is, you have to take in a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE amount of water for it to be toxic).

Also, the gallium you played with was encased in glass because the stuff melts just above room temperature and sticks to EVERYTHING. So if it wasn't inside the glass, the warmth of your hand would melt it and it would make a mess that's a real pain in the ass to clean up. Sealing it in glass was definitely not for safety sake. It was for "I don't want to clean up this mess" sake.

neutrino - 30-6-2006 at 11:14

>I've swallowed plenty of gallium metal myself and there have been ZERO side effects.

Mind if I ask how that happened? I'm sure we'd all be interested.

edit:spelling

[Edited on 1-7-2006 by neutrino]

Jdurg - 30-6-2006 at 16:28

Quote:

Originally posted by neutrino
>I've swallowed plenty of gallium metal myself and there have been ZERO side effects.

Mind if I ask how that happened? I'm sure we're all be interested.

It was kind of a dare and kind of a way to shut up an annoying roommate. I had begun my element collection and a person whom I was living with was one of those dangerous "partial knowledge" people. The type who learns a little bit about something and suddenly feels as though they are an expert on the subject when in reality they don't know squat.

Anyway, this "know-it-all" saw that I had a meager element collection going and started spouting off about how dangerous that is and how people die every day from chemical ingestion and that by having these elements in the household it was putting everyone's lives at risk. I had just about enough of that so I took my gallium metal (It was about five grams), popped it in my mouth, let it melt, then swallowed it and walked away and off to class. The douchebag just sat there stunned.

The gallium tasted like sucking on a steel nail and stained the heck out of the inside of my mouth, but not damage happened. I was perfectly healthy and fine and the wise ass who was pissing me off never said antoehr word.

The_Davster - 30-6-2006 at 16:53

Ah good, you posted the taste, I was going to ask that if you dident mention it

Did it ever come out the other end? Did it have the same laxative effect as Hg?

I melted some Ga in my hand today, it really does stain bad.

neutrino - 30-6-2006 at 19:29

I would expect it to react with stomach acid and dissolve fully. After all, it is right below Al.

The_Davster - 30-6-2006 at 19:34

True, but stomach acid is pretty dilute, but with the reactivity of aluminum that shouldent really matter. Gah...this forgetfullness is what happens when I am doing only solid state chemistry stuff at work, normally I would remember such a thing.

Where I work, when we use gallium there is of course the problem of it melting while handling, so it is frozen in LN2 first, then cut into the correct size pieces.

Jdurg - 1-7-2006 at 15:21

Sorry to disappoint, but I can't recall noticing any "differences" on the other side.

JohnWW - 4-7-2006 at 01:13

One would expect the toxicity of Ga to be similar to that of Al, although it is slightly less electropositive. Al has been implicated as a cause of Alzheimer's disease, through complexing to the protein in brain neurons.

But, another two periods up on the periodic table, there is thallium, which is DEADLY poisonous, more so than Pb or Hg. Someone on this forum has been poisoned by it, I think. In the past Tl has been used in rat poison.

nk - 4-7-2006 at 07:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Jdurg
I've swallowed plenty of gallium metal myself and there have been ZERO side effects. The toxicity is only evident if you ingest an amount that would be insanely expensive, or foolish to ingest.

Also, the gallium you played with was encased in glass because the stuff melts just above room temperature and sticks to EVERYTHING. So if it wasn't inside the glass, the warmth of your hand would melt it and it would make a mess that's a real pain in the ass to clean up. Sealing it in glass was definitely not for safety sake. It was for "I don't want to clean up this mess" sake.

I know it melts at body temperature but I had no idea that it sticks to things in a liquid state. I suppose this is why you're mouth was stained? That's a lot different than I expected it to act after playing with it in glass. No subsitute for experience.

There are a few journal articles around about the toxicity of Ga, but it looks like it's largely unknown. But you're right, it looks like it would take massive amounts to do much of anything.

Jdurg - 4-7-2006 at 18:57

That's pretty much exactly the reason why it stained the inside of my mouth. The stuff is not like mercury which is attracted to itself far more than anything else. If you melt some gallium inside a glass vial and roll the liquid gallium around, it will coat the inside of the vial with a mirror like surface. It will also permanently ruin any clothing it drips on.