khourygeo77 - 23-3-2017 at 13:05
Hello,
So I was trying to find magnesium and bismuth and zinc compounds somewhere else than a lab or chemical shop as they tend to sell products really
costly, and I could get these products 10x cheaper (I'm not exaggerating)
I was wondering if I can come across these products in hardware stores, markets or shop or even pharmacies?
I basically want magnesium or bismuth or zinc in a pure form, and if impossible to find, then their salts, like sulfates or chlorides or oxides would
be fine.
I want to react these salts or metals with acetic acid so I can get their acetates. I could get my hands on epsom salt, however I'm not sure how to
get the acetate from the sulfate without using special equipment or corrosives
Any idea?
Thanks
A Halogenated Substance - 23-3-2017 at 13:27
For bismuth, there are pepto-bismol tablets that contain bismuth subsalicylate. Reacting then with acids produces bismuth chloride and salicylic acid
(bonus!).
The bismuth chloride is soluble in water and can be separated by filtration. Then, aluminium foil can be used to displace the bismuth from solution
and thus bismuth powder.
Video on the process: https://youtu.be/grpSfjUImUs
For zinc, you can extract battery shells which are somewhat pure zinc. These typically have to be manganese dioxide-carbon electrode batteries however
(they are bonus chemicals though!!).
Video #1) https://youtu.be/XC5q9mDKUCo
Video #2) https://youtu.be/knc1lSupAwQ
As for magnesium however, you're best luck may be with fire starters which, from what I've heard from others, is pretty much just a block of magnesium
which can be found at Walmart. I've never managed to find these though 
.
I have found magnesium salt based solutions which are used as laxatives though. They're very dilute however.
WGTR - 23-3-2017 at 13:48
Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, a.k.a. Epsom Salts...available by the pound in probably any well stocked grocery store.
Zinc and magnesium anodes can usually be found in boating supply stores.
[Edited on 3-23-2017 by WGTR]
j_sum1 - 23-3-2017 at 14:49
I have not found magnesium ribbon to be too expensive if you shop around. Last purchase was ten 25g rolls at $2 each. It is not a bad form to work
with either.
But MgSO4*7H2O is useful and readily available. Your lab really should have some. And you should make some anhydrous for drying solvents.
You might be able to find an antacid product that is nearly all Mg(OH)2
Bi I believe is available as lead-free bullets and also as wheel weights. Or so i am lead to believe. I haven't seen any available where I live --
not even pepto bismol. That seems to be a US thing.
Melgar - 23-3-2017 at 15:22
For bismuth, it's pretty cheap on eBay as a metal, or get it as lead-free fishing sinkers. Just make sure to read the fine print.
For zinc, go to the electrical section of a hardware store, and look for stuff that looks like this. You can tell it's zinc if it's that color and looks like it's been die-cast, and is lighter than steel. Also, pennies newer than 1982 are
95% zinc with a copper casing, so if you heat them with a torch as you poke at them with something, eventually the zinc inside will melt and they'll
break open and the zinc will spill out. Note that zinc obtained this way will have significant copper impurities in it.
For magnesium, if you have a Harbor Freight Tools near you, they have these little magnesium fire starters there that are pretty cheap and will do the job.
If you just want acetate salts, the way to go is typically to first get either the hydroxides or the carbonates by mixing with the sodium or potassium
carbonates, bicarbonates, or hydroxides. Make whichever is least soluble in water, so it crashes out and you can isolate it. Then react this with
acetic acid to get the acetate.
[Edited on 3/23/17 by Melgar]
Booze - 24-3-2017 at 07:19
Bismuth is found online, I bought 5 pounds for 70 dollars. For zinc, all you have to do is melt pennies (but make sure they were made after 1986 or
else they will be copper). I am not so sure about magnesium, you could buy some ribbon from a hardware store or buy 8 oz online like I did.
https://www.amazon.com/Roto-Metals-kilo2-2-RotoMetals-Bismut...
https://www.amazon.com/Magnesium-Metal-Ingot-99-95-Ounces/dp...
Booze - 24-3-2017 at 07:20
I bought the bismuth for the cool crystals you might have heard of, but I also made bismuth nitrate with it. I use zinc for metal castings, and
magnesium for incineraries.
ferrousexplosive - 12-7-2017 at 19:24
I know you can find fairly pure magnesium chloride in pharmacies for laxatives and where they sell products for makeing tofu, you can get pure
magnesium carbonate used in rock climbing.
For bismuth i think they sell the oxide Bi2O3 it in pottery supplies. Obviously the best optio is to buy the metal online.
Zinc is pretty easy to find and inexpensive, they sell it as a metal or oxide ZnO, carbonate or chloride that whta i have saw
NEMO-Chemistry - 13-7-2017 at 17:52
magnesium Carbonate from ebay or Amazon is really cheap, i think I also got a load from a pottery shop, but pottery supplies in UK seemed to have
jumped alot in price.