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Natures Natrium
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That is a pretty cool way to store an element collection.
I have to ask though, are you sure the silvery chunk in the actinide row is where it is supposed to be?
\"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.\" - Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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DoctorOfPhilosophy
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Thanks, the silvery chunk is a thimble of Am-241 from a fire detector. The actual content is 1ug of AmO2.
cyanureeves, the periodic display is built "picture frame style". I hung it on my wall recently. The cubby holes are about 2x2x2 inches. To give you
an idea of scale, the cadmium is a solid 1kg sphere. It's a lot more organized now (old pic), but I prefer having it with nothing but the tables and
samples, like clocks without ticks or numbers. I know it's pretentious, but I have the elements memorized thoroughly.
PS. I also have a pic of 1kg of 99.99% gallium metal coming!
[Edited on 2-7-2012 by DoctorOfPhilosophy]
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MrTechGuy1995
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Found some interesting Vanadium Crystals I grew in my lab.
Still trying to figure what the hell they are.
Either sodium vanadate, or Vanadic Acid.
NaOH + V2O5 ---> NaVO3
NaVO3 + HNO3 ---> ???? //Black precip and Yellowish solution. Which from the solution, came those amazing crystals. Small but interesting.
[Edited on 2-7-2012 by MrTechGuy1995]
Currently in college, studying Computer Science. Missing my home laboratory, and all the fun things I got to do. Still trying to explore the outskirts
of chemistry for curiosities sake.
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Poppy
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nice seeds!!
Humm.. seems like they are the outcome of some high molecular weight crystal double salt
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Rogeryermaw
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maybe not so pretty but ammonium sulphate crystals.
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White Yeti
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Here is a copper acetate crystal that took me about a month to grow. I used flash to show the crystal faces, but it washed out the scale just a bit.
The shadow is actually that of the lens of my camera. It's a shame that the colour doesn't show up. I guess that's the price to pay when you get an
enormous crystal
"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
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sargent1015
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Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti  | Here is a copper acetate crystal that took me about a month to grow. I used flash to show the crystal faces, but it washed out the scale just a bit.
The shadow is actually that of the lens of my camera. It's a shame that the colour doesn't show up. I guess that's the price to pay when you get an
enormous crystal
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Beautiful crystal, I love copper acetate for that reason!
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Endimion17
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| Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti | Here is a copper acetate crystal that took me about a month to grow. I used flash to show the crystal faces, but it washed out the scale just a bit.
The shadow is actually that of the lens of my camera. It's a shame that the colour doesn't show up. I guess that's the price to pay when you get an
enormous crystal
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Wow, that's a huge crystal. Nice.
You could try combining long and short exposure, even during the same shot. Light your crystal from beneath and capture the scene using few seconds of
exposure, and while the lens are still opened, turn on previously positioned lamp, but very briefly. It takes more than just a few shots to get it
right, but the results are always nicer than combining two photos in an editor. Of course, don't forget the macro focusing.
A nice setup is a black sheet of cardboard with a hole through which light comes into the crystal positioned on it.
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White Yeti
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Thanks for the advice Endimion. I wish I could take it, but I have tried to control the shutter speed of my camera several times prior and I was
unsuccessful every time. Any tips?
Also, if I were to light this crystal from the inside I would need a very powerful lamp because the crystal is almost opaque; the thickness is such
that almost no light comes through.
"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
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Poppy
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| Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti | | need a very powerful lamp because the crystal is almost opaque; the thickness is such that almost no light comes through. |
Okay that was nostalgic ^^ nice crystal though
What if the crystal has too many veins?
[Edited on 7-3-2012 by Poppy]
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Endimion17
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| Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti | Thanks for the advice Endimion. I wish I could take it, but I have tried to control the shutter speed of my camera several times prior and I was
unsuccessful every time. Any tips?
Also, if I were to light this crystal from the inside I would need a very powerful lamp because the crystal is almost opaque; the thickness is such
that almost no light comes through. |
If the camera doesn't allow changing the shutter speed, there's not much you can do. Changing the ISO will probably mess up things, adding grain.
Is the crystal opaque, or is it only very dark, as it is supposed to be? Opaque would mean there are lots of impurities inside, so you probably can't
do anything about it.
However, if it's just very dark, you can use a green laser. AFAIK, copper(II) in most of the solutions absorbs mainly in the red part of the spectrum.
I think there's hardly any absorption in the green part.
A reasonably strong laser (tens of miliwatts) would make it look transparent and shiny. The only thing is that the colour will not be the original
one, which can be corrected in a photo editor.
Or you can use a blue laser, though they're much more expensive.
(eye protection is always needed)
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liquidlightning
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How did you grow it? Weight?
I just made a lot of copper acetate, would love to try my hand at this. Doubt it will turn out as nice as yours though.
[Edited on 4-7-2012 by liquidlightning]
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Formatik
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There's some really nice pictures in this thread.
kristofvagyok, the quality of your photos really stands out. The Budapest sunset is awesome.
Here are some pretty compounds, not very large pictures unfortunately:
http://www.experimente.org/ChemikalienBilder.htm
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White Yeti
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| Quote: Originally posted by Endimion17 | | Is the crystal opaque, or is it only very dark, as it is supposed to be? Opaque would mean there are lots of impurities inside, so you probably can't
do anything about it. |
I'm reasonably certain that the crystal has very few impurities. It seems opaque because of it's size and also because of the overall deep blue colour
of copper acetate itself. I don't have a green laser, I destroyed the only one I had by tampering with the batteries and frying the diode. Yes I'm a
noob, but that was a long time ago; I wouldn't do something like that again.
| Quote: | | I just made a lot of copper acetate, would love to try my hand at this. Doubt it will turn out as nice as yours though. |
Thanks for the compliment. I find that crystals grow very large when there are few nucleation sites. You can achieve this by filtering the solution,
filtering it again and filtering it again. If there are still particles smaller than the pores of your filter, let them settle to the bottom and
decant the aqueous portion. Then, place the solution in a spotless jar. The result is that 3 or 4 large crystals form instead of a myriad of small
ones. If possible, try to put it in a place where it will be undisturbed, I find that even after making sure there are as few nucleation sites as
possible, a fruit fly always finds its way in My newest solution to this problem
is to place a funnel over the opening of the jar. It's keeping the flies out, but the water doesn't seem to be evaporating too well. I might try to
use a fine mesh of some kind.
Also, resist the temptation of stirring the solution at all costs. The fewer the disturbances, the larger the crystals.
While I'm here, I'd like to share a method I use to store crystals. Many of you know that crystals grown from an aqueous solution get damaged by humid
air, even more so when the solute is mildly hygroscopic. This can be somewhat irritating, especially of the crystal took months to grow.
I find that making a saran wrap pocket around the specimen and sealing the pocket with a hot iron is both easy, cheap and effective. The tab left over
from where the plastic re-solidifies is also a convenient spot for a label, as shown below. Yes the picture is not great, but it is meant to show a
method, not to be pretty. The crystal is the same one as in my other picture, along with a few others that grew alongside it.
"Ja, Kalzium, das ist alles!" -Otto Loewi
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DoctorOfPhilosophy
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Nice crystal! I also made one, of gallium, and accidentally. I just left it to cool and when I came back I found this:
Here is the original 1kg packaging. The clear bottle contains XRF spectrometer slides. Confirmed 99.99% purity. I'm actually looking to get rid of it,
so if anyone is interested I'll beat any price you find online!
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RadioTrefoil
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Alkali metals dissolved in anyhrous ammonia makes a lovely bronze colour despite the metals themselves being grey. A solution of lithium in NH3 would
make some very pretty pictures indeed.
MESITYL FREAKING OXIDE
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DJF90
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I'm sure Sedit has shown pictures of lithium ammonia bronze on here...
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Endimion17
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I've found this not so recent and not so nice photo either.
This is the purest large batch I've ever made. It's completely free of visible impurities and looks like plastic. I've made transparent colorless
samples before, but only spheres few mm in diameter.
I guess the next step would be to let it stay molten under dilute chromic acid for a few days when it supposedly becomes transparent, however I'm not
sure what happens with its color. I'll try that soon and report the results.
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blogfast25
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Do tell us what it is? It takes the guesswork out of things...
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Wizzard
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White phosphorus, of course! 
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Pyro
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I just got a beaker full of these beautiful sulphur crystals while recrystallizing with toluene.
 
they look exactly like a little garden.
[Edited on 15-7-2012 by Pyro]
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cyanureeves
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Pyro one time i dried distilled sulfur powder and after a long time i opened the old burned can used for a still pot and broke up the fused blackened
sulfur.inside the shiny black rocklike mass was a bright yellow lattice looking stuff almost like your sulfur. i only got a few ml. of liquid and i
recall adding a couple of drops to ammonium hydroxide i made from deer hooves and i got a thick gel of nasty goop.
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Pyro
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well, distilling is probably best for large amounts and if you have the right equipment available. but I dont have any glass condensers that i feel
like cleaning for a bit of sulphur.
I find toluene more appealing, about 20g S per 100ml toluene at 100* C and only a few grams at 20*C. I got the idea from woelen
do you have a pic of your crystals? cos bright yellow crystals amidst a big black sounds pretty 
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cyanureeves
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no pics and no it aint worth it.i went straight to the second pic and only now do i see that the sulfur needles are towering inside the toluene.very
nice, looks like the place where jorel talked to clark kent.
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Pyro
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I made one of them a bit better with irfanview:
it looks so cool, you should try it just to see them grow.
put 20g of sulfur in 100 ml toluene. then put in a deep pot with a little water, boil for 30 mins with a flask of cold water on top to act as reflux.
all the time keep a beaker in the water to get it good and hot. then, after 30 mins filter everything into the clean hot beaker and turn off the heat.
then put on the lid and leave a couple of hours to cool down completely. then you will have crystals like those
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