Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: jdurg on January 02, 2005, 02:40:17 PM
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Just curious to see how many people out there are like me. ;D If you collect elements, post about them here in this thread and include a picture if you can. My pictures are well known on this site, so I won't tie up this thread with them, but I thought this would be a good way to see who's in the same 'field' and a good place to exchange information about acquiring elements and whatnot. (And perhaps trading off some extras). We could also use this thread to describe how to safely make, purify, and store some of your elements. So join in the discussion! ;D
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I am starting my element collection too, its going slowly as I am a lazy bastard, and not that rich, but its slowly taking shape :)
My friend SWIM is starting another collection, attempting to collect and ampoule a sample of the entire contents of A.Shulgin's books TIHKAL and PIHKAL 8)
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What's REALLY fun is taking an ampoule of bromine and putting it in the freezer. :D You can see the vapor slowly condensing back into liquid as it gets colder, and the red-orange gas in the ampoule slowly fades away. You also see the liquid crystalizing into a yellow-brown solid as the freezing process continues, and soon the entire ampoule is clear and 'empty' except for a solid yellow-brown mass. Then you take the ampoule out of the freezer and let it warm up. Soon the yellow-brown mass starts sweating liquid bromine and a bit of vapor comes off of it. It's REALLY neat to see, and if I get a chance I'll use my digital camera to record a video of the process.
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I'm an element collector. I currently have nine in beautiful home-made ampoules.
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I am starting an element collection but I don't find lots of information on the internet. Maybe you could help me. I found some element-sellers on E-bay but that's all.
Thanx
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Take a look in the links section here on our website. There's an area where I've put in some links to some element dealers I've purchased from. Dave Hamric is a great source of elements, and much of my collection is from him. Emovendo on E-Bay is also a good source of elements as well. In Europe, Juergen Bauer is known for being able to provide some nice samples, and while the prices seem a bit high, that could probably be due to the very weak US Dollar for us USA people.
I am currently in discussions with a new seller I've found out in Germany who can provide red amorphous selenium, ampouled alkali metals with their unoxidized shine, diluted fluorine gas in a pure quartz ampoule, and some other pretty neat samples. (Like a fresh, unoxidized 7 gram sample of arsenic sealed in an ampoule). I've placed on order already and when it arrives I'll let everyone here know if it's worth it.
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Yes I am ;) take a look at my website (but at the moment it's still constructing).
http://www.periodictable.ru/index_en.html
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That's a nice collection. Are all these samples your own?
I really loved to see the quarz tube with liquid chlorine. That would be very cool for me. I also collect elements (see http://chem.homescience.net/compounds/index2.html ).
Could you provide me with the source/company of the liquid chlorine sample? That's one, which I definitely would like to add to my collection.
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The liquid Cl is cool, but I'd personally definitely want it encased in acrylic like the second sample.
The reason, is that the vapor pressure of Cl will vary over a large range for a relatively small range of temperatures. My recollection is, that the pressure can easily range from 6 atm to 8 atm, for modest temperature changes. If you have the Cl in just an ampule, the repeated pressure changes could result in material fatigue in the ampule material.
I don't know how severe a problem this really is, but I definitely wouldn't want the thing to 'spontaneously' fail due to material fatigue. That would be exciting, though.
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Thanks for a compliment:)!
Definitely foreign people interest in my table more than people in Russia ;).
Yes, all samples belong to me (well, it difficultly to say for example about liquid nitrogen and oxygen which have evaporated long time ago ;) ). Ampoule with chlorine I have made by myself. And if someone is interested in them, I can make more for exchange or sale (certainly casted in acryle).
Here some information about thise ampoules: calculated burst pressure - 250 bar. Amount of chlorine - 30-50 mg. After sealing, I heat up all ampoules in boiling water to be assured in their durability. I have heated one of ampoules up to the critical conditions (145 C, 76 bar) it has not explode.
Here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/34865837/chlorine__heat_up.mpg.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/34866210/chlorine_cooling_down.mpg.html
It is possible to see a videoclip of this process.
One of ampoules you can see on Theodore's site ;):
http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/017/index.s7.html#sample8
Also i can make small amount of Li and Tl samples (like on my site, with oxide/nitride-free surface) for exchange.
And one piece of rhenium I selling now on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&item=120034711314&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
I am sorry in advance , but for the moment my written English is not very good.
I not so often visit this forum, but you can easily contact me via email: timokhin {} aci.unizh.ch (currently I do my PhD in Swizerland).
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I also have single crystal of molybdenum and tungsten (one piece of each, similar to those on my site) which i'd like to exchange for sometning similar (or maybe to sale).
Surely I can mage sodium and potassium with clean surface, but it seems a bit boring for me (but if somebody like to get them, i think I can make some).
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I am trying to make some chemicals as well as get some useful compounds for various other experiments.
I don't have many pure elements, but its the best I can do without a job and a credit card. Its amazing what you can obtain from an old broken laptop computer, a fried battery charger, and the supermarket.
I have pure sodium, manganese, alumninum, iron, and copper. I have a bunch of other stuff but its not completely pure as far as I know. I have zinc, tin, lead, gold, silver, carbon, sulfur, silicon, phosphorus, and calcium.
I also have some simple compounds I made, such as copper chloride, cobalt chloride, iron sulfate, copper sulfate, sodium chlorate, sodium perchlorate, and a lot of other things you can make from food or easily get from a grocery store/hardware store.
Most of the non-hazardous things are simply kept in little plastic containers.
I don't have enough material to do experiments, so I'm making a collection. So far it fills the top of my bookshelf.
And don't worry - I have safety data sheets for every chemical I have or want to get, and all the chemicals are stored safely. Unfortunately, some of the elements were difficult to obtain and a few times my procedures didn't go so well. Since some of my methods were unsafe I will not tell others what I did. ;)
When I can get stuff off the internet, I will be able to collect things you can't make easily or at all without buying online.
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St. Jebus, what you are doing actually is great. Making things from all kinds of common stuff around you is something which deserves respect. You must have done quite some experimenting, otherwise you would not have all these chems.
Please do not hesitate too much about sharing your experience. If you write things, which are potentially dangerous, then of course you need to tell the dangers and warn people, but still I see no reason why you should not share things with us. As long as it is real well-thought chemistry and not the abvious kewl-stuff I think that a forum like this only benefits from sharing such info.
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I have been an off-and-on chemistry hobbyist for years, and I have always wanted an element collection, but since I collect lots of stuff I haven't gotten serious about it until recently. A search led me to this thread.
Here is what I have so far, along with where I got it.
Mercury, Sulfur, and Sodium - from the local chemical shop.
Copper - from a science gift shop and in coin form.
Strontium, Indium, Manganese, Iron, Antimony, Nickel (also in coin form), and Bismuth - a friend gave me these; they came from some discarded chemicals.
Silver, Zinc, Aluminum, Platinum, and Gold - in coin form. I plan on eventually getting these in other forms.
I have recently done some searching on the web, and it looks like a lot is available, but some are rather difficult. So far, I have been unable to locate lithium (I'm surprised at this - I would think that it would be everywhere), rubidium, cesium, barium, phosphorus (red or black - I don't want white!), arsenic, fluorine, chlorine, and bromine from sources that will sell to individuals in the United States. (Of course, most of the radioactive elements are impossible to obtain. Uranium ore will have to cover many of them.) Some of these (especially the halogens) are quite dangerous and I would only want them in tiny quantities in tightly sealed containers. I know how to make chlorine and bromine, but I'm not really sure that I want to take the risk; I would rather buy them. Bromine is infamous for its ability to escape from containers anyway, and I don't want it floating around in the air. Maybe I should satisfy myself with compounds for the dangerous halogens.
Probably next on my list will be the rare earths. They are reasonably easy to find and not too expensive, and they aren't terribly dangerous. Many eBay sellers have them, and United Nuclear has a rare earth sample set.
So has anyone here found samples of the difficult ones (or others like them that I may have forgotten to mention)?
I'll have to look around this site and see what else is here. Getting into this element collection is rekindling my interest in chemistry. Perhaps it is time to start playing with chemicals again.
Heather
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Try Dave Hamric. http://www.elementsales.com/
He can't ship alkali metals, but can send you samples of most of the rest.
Phosphorus is problematic for 'Drug War' reasons, it is listed on the USA List I table of precursors. (Iodine is supposedly about to join it.) I think the alkali metals may be seen as 'suspicious' for similar reasons, but aren't officially listed. Fluorine is extremely problematic to handle, personally I am content with some cool CaF2 octahedral crystals as my F sample.
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Thanks! It looks like he has just about everything. I agree on the fluorine; that stuff is so nasty that I would prefer to have it as a compound. Even chlorine and bromine worry me, but it looks like his samples are well-sealed so I might order them. Perhaps I'll find another source for the alkali metals. I already have sodium, and United Nuclear has potassium in 5-gram samples (I'll probably order some soon in case it goes away). For the others, I'll keep looking, and since rubidium and cesium are so dangerous I might go for compounds in those cases. Lithium must be available somewhere; maybe I should check the local chemical shop where I got the sodium.
Heather
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Lithium must be available somewhere; maybe I should check the local chemical shop where I got the sodium.
You could try and remove it from lithium batteries, I think they contain metallic Li. (I haven't tried this myself.)
Beware: People might think you are a meth-cook for doing this, so be discreet. :)
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Hey,
I'm trying to collect the elements, I havn't got anyhing too interesting yet though... The tungston I've got is nice though :D
I've got a section on my website about my collection:
http://www.scotsons-shack.com/elements/index.htm
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The meth problem certainly is making things difficult for legitimate amateur chemists. It seems like just about everything is a meth precursor. I know of some, but as I search for other things that I might want, I keep running up against this. It's frustrating. I'm also nervous about having too many of these chemicals around - people might get the wrong idea. Hopefully having them in tiny quantities will help alleviate that problem. Maybe I should concentrate on playing with lanthanides and their salts - I don't think any of them are useful for any nasty drugs!
Meth is nasty stuff; I have a friend who got addicted to it, and it has basically ruined her life.
Anyway, I've been through the Metallium website and I've chosen a number of things for my first order. I'll get the difficult ones first to get them out of the way. And if I ever drive to Massachusetts, I can buy the alkali metals from them.
Thanks for all your help - this looks like a good forum. As I get back into the chemistry hobby, I'll have to look around here.
Heather
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And if I ever drive to Massachusetts, I can buy the alkali metals from them.
Ha, I did exactly that.
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Mark K, you drove from Texas to Massachusetts. :o
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So far, I have had good luck with this. My collection now includes boron, fluorine (as calcium fluoride), sodium, aluminum, silicon, red phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, manganese, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, gallium, arsenic, bromine, strontium, silver, cadmium, indium, antimony, iodine, barium, cerium, praseodymium, dysprosium, holmium, platinum, gold, mercury, thallium, bismuth, and americium (in smoke detectors). Potassium and uranium are on the way and should arrive soon.
Aside from the ones I mentioned earlier, sources include Metallium for most of them; a local rock shop for boron crystals and silicon; United Nuclear for potassium and uranium; and Home Depot for smoke detectors (americium). Unfortunately, United Nuclear ran out of thorium before I could get any, but I managed to get some of the last of their uranium. Thorium metal might be hard to get if United Nuclear doesn't get any more, but thorium ore is easy to get, so I'll have to be satisfied with that until something better shows up.
Regarding uranium, apparently the oxide can spall off and become airborne as it forms - considering that I don't want alpha-emitting dust in the air, it might be wise to store it in mineral oil. Has anyone else here had issues with uranium oxide formation? In a small sample, it's probably not a huge problem, but better safe than sorry.
I plan on getting pictures before long; when I do, I will post them.
Thanks for the suggestions in this thread - it has been helpful.
Heather
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Isn't this fun!
I keep my U samples in sealed vials which I never open, I don't worry about dust getting into the room then. I don't bother with oil. I like how it is very black and ominous looking, from the oxide coating.
BTW - From UN I once got an Am-241 test source, it had the same amount of stuff (c. 0.9 uCi) as a regular smoke detector, but it is easier to mess with it as the source (i.e. get a counter to pick up the alpha radiation). UN also supplies Na-22 sources, which I count as my antimatter sample in my collection, as Na-22 emits positrons.
As far as Th, you might try RGB, http://www.element-collection.com/
I got 0.5 g of Th metal from them. It may not have been listed in their catalogue, but I asked them about Th and they could supply a little bit. (More than 0.5 g would have triggered exorbitant shipping costs for overseas hazmat.)
Element collecting is one of the reasons I got into doing chemistry experiments. After getting, e.g., a sample of Cu metal, a logical next step was to get some Cu compounds to see how the element behaves.
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I'm an element collector. I currently have nine in beautiful home-made ampoules.
How did you get that bromine into an ampoule? I have about 10ml in a glass flask sealed with a ridiculous amount of Parafilm. It's slowly escaping and I don't want to lose it...or inhale too much!
Been able to "get" lots of samples from the school where I work. I'm very pleased with the large amount of chlorine I managed to make (HCl and MnO2). They are a beautiful green in their bottles and no signs of escape ;)
Cheers,
Adam
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My uranium and potassium samples just arrived. The uranium is about 15 grams of small chunks. I have placed it in oil; some of the surfaces are still shiny and I would like to preserve them as they are. It shows up on my dosimeter, but it isn't all that hot - I have ore samples that are far more radioactive (as would be expected). The potassium is four small lumps stored in mineral oil - a total of 5 grams. It has interesting patterns of corrosion on it. I suspect the oxide and hydroxide are present. I don't see any sign of peroxides, but perhaps they will slowly build up over time.
Now the big question: what next? I'm leaning towards finishing up the right side of the periodic table; there are a lot of interesting elements there.
Heather
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Heather, maybe this eBay-seller is interesting for you.
http://stores.ebay.com/Elements-and-Other-Things_Elements_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ3579553QQftidZ2QQtZkm
He has very affordable Se and Te samples (which I did not see in your list), plus quite some other elements. I also purchased some items from him and my experience was very good.
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I just started collectiing about a month ago and have the following:
Hydrogen
Lithium
Carbon
Oxygen
Sodium
Magnesium
Aluminium (1cm cube)
Silicon (a 10cm lump)
Sulfur (an ingot with crystals on top)
Chlorine
Potassium
Calcium
Chromium
Manganese (clean it in nitric acid, rinse, dry then put under paraffin)
Iron (a great perfect cube)
Cobalt
Nickel
Copper (another great cube)
Zinc (a bigger cube)
Bromine (for how long? ::)
Silver (pretty thick foil)
Tin (in several forms, including an ingot I made)
Antimony (in large crystal chunks and some toxic powder)
Iodine (100g of crystals)
Barium (a nice heavy cube under paraffin)
Gold (just as flakes)
Mercury (about 400g)
Lead (two ingots, polished and lacquered)
Bismuth (ingots)
Have the following coming:
Beryllium
Boron
Phosphorus
Vanadium
Gallium (wanna do the hand melting routine!)
Selenium
Niobium
Indium (just to see how soft it is)
Tungsten (for melting point)
Gadolinium (for the weird magnetic effects)
Ytterbium (for the spelling)
So, I have a start.
Much to do. ;) Give myself a year to get the lot ;D
Cheers,
Adam
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Heather, maybe this eBay-seller is interesting for you.
http://stores.ebay.com/Elements-and-Other-Things_Elements_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ3579553QQftidZ2QQtZkm
He has very affordable Se and Te samples (which I did not see in your list), plus quite some other elements. I also purchased some items from him and my experience was very good.
I have encountered his listings, and I suspect I will be ordering from him. Tellurium and selenium are high on my priority list, so I'll be looking to see what is available. Thanks.
Gallium is a lot of fun, but unlike mercury, it sticks to almost everything. Don't melt it directly in your hand unless you want a mess. I have it in a clear plastic bottle, and I have used my hairdryer to melt it. I might order more in the future; eventually, I would like to fill up the bottle.
Heather
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Periodic table on sale (http://cgi.ebay.com/Periodic-Table-of-Elements-Case-and-Samples-RARE-NIB_W0QQitemZ260066150039QQihZ016QQcategoryZ413QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Just in case listing is not there I have attached picture - item was sold by dang-good-stuff and he posted the picture, no idea about copyrights - looks like the seller took the picture himself.
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Yes, element collecting is a great hobby and it's nice to see so many people are now getting into it. There are a LOT more of us out there than one would think. At work, I have a poster printed out of the elements in my collection hanging on the wall behind me. It's remarkable how many people stop by and just stare in wonder and amazement at the photos.
The one thing I've learned the most about this hobby is that you can NEVER actually stop. As soon as you get a sample of everything, you start wanting to upgrade and get more and more and more. This can cost you quite a bit of money, but the nice thing is that you know those elements will always be there and it's not like coins or baseball cards or comic books where the number of samples available is constantly dwindling.
Now to get to some of the questions posed here and to make some comments:
Ivan - Nice to see you here!!! I've obtained a sample of lithium metal and a liquid chlorine ampoule from Ivan and I'm VERY impressed. The Li and Cl2 are proudly displayed in my collection and are a nice contrast to my existing samples (gaseous chlorine and oxidized lithium lump). It was a pleasure dealing with Ivan and I will work with him again in the future as should anyone who wants to get some great samples and interact with a great individual.
Heather - Hehe. You have fallen victim to the hobby of collecting the elements. It's a fun hobby, but one that you can never escape. Wherever you go and whatever you look at, you'll see it as an element and wonder how you can get that into your collection. As has already been pointed out to you, Dave Hamric is a fantastic source of elements and a great guy as well. Every year I make my way up to his place in Massachussetts and upgrade some samples as well as help him develop new ways to generate and store existing samples. This past September I went up there and we worked out a method for creating brown, amorphous silicon. He's currently working on ways to improve the production and will soon be selling this allotrope. If there is ever ANY sample that you want, just drop him an e-mail and ask about them. Many things can be cast in acrylic resin to make them ultra-safe and able to be shipped. You just need to ask.
Allotropes - Allotropes of the elements are also fun to collect. It's always neat to see the many forms that elements can take at room temperature. Phosphorus takes the cake for me as I have the white, red, black and violet forms and my photograph of those forms is now being published in a general chemistry textbook. I can't wait for it to come out. ;D Carbon is also another good one to get multiple allotropes of as you can get graphite, amorphous, diamond, and buckyballs too. It's generally things like boron, silicon, tin and arsenic that are usually ignored in terms of allotropy.
Radioactives - Radioactive elements are a bit of a concern for storage, but as long as you don't collect massive amounts of them you're fine. I have a sizeable chunk of uranium metal and it just amazes me how dense the stuff is. My Uranium and Thorium and stored in sealed glass ampoules which basically block out all of the alpha and beta particles and leave the gamma rays to come through. Those are blocked and/or slowed down by the lead sheeting in the boxes that the samples are stored in. I have a promethium watch hand in my possesion, and on its way to me are five radium based watch hands. I'll have these stored away in a lead lined box as well. The tritium sample I have is worryless as no radiation can escape the key-chain. Still, I keep it a point to not expose myself to the samples too often and only "admire" them on rare occasions. Plus, I keep myself a good distance from them to minimize the exposure. Really, at the sample levels we're talking about here the danger really isn't all that much. (Things like the americium and possibly neptunium in your smoke detector are so small in size that they really aren't even worth mentioning as "potentially dangerous").
So have fun collecting the elements. The Platinum Group Metals will drain your bank account, but it's always fun to add a new sample to your collection. Then, when your collection is completed like mine is, you can relax and enjoy what you've accomplished and upgrade/add to it when you come across a great sample for a great price. ;D
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jdurg -
Comments on Borek's EBAY link?
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How are you collectors displaying your, um, collections?
I have an unlimited supply of 200ml bottle with plastic caps and are just using a label maker to, um, label them.
I have them in a big plastic box in their respective positions in The Table.
Anything I buy I can use as a tax write off due to my position as a chemistry teacher ;D ;D ;D
heheheee.
Problem though. It seems much stuff may prove difficult to get into Australia so I'm trying to get an initial collection with as much variety in appearance as possible.
There are an awful lot of metals virtually indistinguishable from each other...I still want them.....eventually ;)
Would kill for liquid chlorine. It would probably kill me.
Cheers,
Adam
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jdurg -
Comments on Borek's EBAY link?
Yes, Borek's E-Bay link is to the russian element collection set that Theodore Gray has referenced at his website. Not bad if you want tiny samples of the elements, but I think you'd be better off putting together your own set as you'll have much larger, and more impressive, samples.
As for display, I have my elements stored in small glass vials or jars, or glass ampoules, and these samples are labelled and kept in a lockable cabinet to prevent theft as well as accidents.
When I move into a bigger place of residence next year, I'll have a display cabinet created for my samples.
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I keep mine (mostly) in some 24 ml glass vials from I-Chem/Nalgene. One shelf of a bookcase is dedicated to the display. Some of the more treacherous ones (alkali metals) are in multiple nested containers for safety and not usually on display. If you get the metals in a variety of physical forms and shapes, that spices them up a bit.
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I'm really annoyed that I will never ever be able to complete my collection.
The only ones I'm still missing are:
Rb, Cs, Lu, Rh, Os, Pt, Yb, Th, U
I soon will buy the Lu and Yb samples. They are affordable. I also have a source for Rb and Cs, although they are not really cheap. I just purchased 100 grams of CsBr, which makes for more than 60 grams of Cs, but I also plan to buy some elementary Cs and Rb in glass ampoules.
The metals Rh, Os and Pt I will buy as very thin foils with a good surface area. Of course it is better to buy bulk quantities, but especially Rh is insanely expensive and well beyond my financial resources.
Two elements which I will never obtain are U and Th. Where I live, there is an absolute and 100% tight regulation of ANY radioactive material. I can buy HNO3, KClO3, red P, I2 and many other chems without problems, but thorium and uranium (and all of their compounds) are absolutely forbidden. Recently, someone's house was raided, because he had a sample of depleted uranium (IIRC almost 30 grams) and the whole street was upset. People were horrified by the nuclear disaster, which could have happened to them :-X. How the police could know that guy had uranium, I don't know.
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Two elements which I will never obtain are U and Th.
This isn't as satisfying as a pure sample, but... In general, regarding the radioactive elements, it is impossible to get pure samples. You have to settle for some item that contains some (relatively) small number of atoms, the stuff is too evanescent to have a big piece.
So, this way I 'have' Tc/Fr - Tiny amounts in natural minerals, Po - Tiny amount in anti-static brush, Ra/Rn/At - Tiny amounts in old watch hands, Pm - Tiny amount in old luminous paint, Np/Am - Tiny amounts in smoke detector and similar sized test source.
Using the same criteria for Th/U, you can get, for Th camping lantern mantles which use ThO2 to get a bright glow (these are getting replaced by non-radioactive ones, however), and for U there is the fluorescent 'Vaseline' glass as well as the 'Radioactive Orange' FiestaWare dishes. Can you get any of these in NL?
Of course, it is physically possible to get bulk sized pieces of Th/U, and not to have to settle for traces, but if *legally* this is not possible, then I personally would count the traces.
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It's a shame people are so irrationally afraid of radioactivity. Uranium and thorium are considerably less hazardous than many well-known chemicals, but it is hard to convince people of this. I am finding that thorium is difficult to get in pure form, and I'm lucky that I was able to get some uranium. For the other radioactive elements, I'll have to be happy with tiny amounts in mineral ore or commercial products.
I'm waiting for governments to start banning bismuth because it was recently discovered that it is barely radioactive. If they become that irrational, then they also need to ban potassium, indium, carbon, and others that are slightly radioactive thanks to naturally-occurring radioisotopes in the mix.
So far, in the U.S., it is still legal to own very limited quantities of radioactive material. (This may well vary by local jurisdiction.) I wonder if this will get tightened up thanks to terrorism, the polonium scare, and irrational fear.
Heather
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You actually get a pretty good dose of radiation from pure samples of many other elements. It may be kind of shocking, but pure rubidium (27.8% radioactive), indium (95.7% radioactive), and rhenium (62.6% radioactive) are substantially radioactive. :o
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WOW! This forum is so great!
I was sitting around thinking of how my obsession for collecting the elements is different, maybe even a little strange; then the idea hit me that I am proud to say I am an element collector. It is one of the most intelligent pursuits and in my opinion, qualifies as an extreme hobby. But I was feeling a little alone except for my competitors on eBay, stories of kindred souls (on Theodore Gray's site) and other distant big-time collectors. So I thought why not Google "I am an element collector" and see what comes up - WHAM this site came up on top!
Most of my life I have loved to handle and possess blocks, cubes, and cylinders of pure elements. I collected what I could here and there, randomly. Then back in September I stumbled across an eBayer selling huge blocks of Cr (2,214g) & Mo (1,837g). These I had to have. I decided whatever the cost I was going to get these two pieces and did. From then on I've become totally obsessed with collecting additional specimens. So far I have managed to collect 34 elements mainly through eBay (but United Nuclear will always have my undying loyalty). I do agree that, in addition to acquiring elements through direct purchases, building an element collection from one’s own chemical abilities or scavenger skills is where it’s at.
So this has reawakened my childhood “mad scientist” days but of course with a more refined appreciation for the meaning of these elements both from on the infinitesimal atomic level to pondering the unbelievable concept that these few elements make up pretty much everything in our physical universe. I know this sounds really out there, but for me, it is like seeing God in these elements. So, as you can probably tell, I am really happy with my passion for collecting elements and only regret that I didn’t hold onto my childhood fascination with chemistry making it my profession rather than a late blooming hobby.
I’ve read a bunch of your postings and now I’m going to get back to the rest of them. Good to meet you all! I am looking forward to hearing about your collections and related stories.
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Yup, element collecting is fun!
Schools around mine have closed and I've been sent in to grab what is useful from their aged labs.
Great to find lithium, potassium, huge bottles of sodium and one of my favourites, a large chunk of barium under oil that was probably over 50 years old. Gave it a great clean.
The huge slabs of silicon I picked up, complete with assay were also a favourite.
My method is 50% for the school and the remainder for me.
I'm now keeping slightly reactive metals under paraffin. Manganese looks like rubbish unless freshly deoxidised and protected. Lead looks great protected!
And I'm collecting the mercury that no one seems to want anymore ;D
Go for it!
Cheers,
Adam
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Well it's nice to see so many people out there collecting elements. It is indeed a fun hobby, and while for a while some will think you're a bit "odd" for doing it, they'll show some interest in it. I have a friend who can print out massive landscape printings on a gigantic vinyl printer. I gave him a collage of the photos in my collection, and some elements which I do not/can not posses and had him print out a huge poster for me. It looks great and it's hanging up on the wall behind me in my office at work. I constantly have people stopping by and looking at it and saying "That's what <insert element name here> looks like?!" It's great. Knowing that there is a point where your collection is "completed" and that there aren't new parts to collect every day makes it fun as well. When you can accomplish a goal it makes things feel "full". Sure I'll always be upgrading samples and adding additional samples, but to know that I can go into my cabinet and pull out a sample of any element I want to feels really good. (I can't wait to get my one-ounce osmium button next year!!!).
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Hi! Hope everyone is having fun so far in 07!
It's been good so far in my element collecting efforts...I've been VERY lucky...
Managed to win an Ivan Timokhin made pressurized ampule of chlorine on eBay.
I paid only $3,300 for it...
no j/k kidding; I paid $83 for it.
Along with 100g of Ga at $1g.
So now it's off to the more difficult ones ie, As, Ba, Cs, Li, Sr... Any ideas or hints would be greatly appreciated!
Also it has become painfully obvious that I've got to start making a lot (a whole lot more) more money; this hobby can get expensive quickly.
I agree that element collecting does become an obsession. As soon as I had acquired one form of the more readily available elements, I subconsciously switched into a continuous search mode, always on a yellow alert status whereever I am, to pick up new acquisitions in other forms, weights and higher levels of purity. I love it though...
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^^ You're so right about element collection becoming obsessional! ;D
Just did a major eBay attack to overspend on titanium, germanium, yttrium, zirconium, molybdenum, cadmium (great sample!), hafnium and whatever Ta stands for! ::)
I will collect all available within 2 years.
GREAT FUN! ;D ;D
And surprisingly, people are interested. They compare it to collecting stamps.
BUT! Luckily there are finite elements and infinite stamps.
Cheers,
Adam.
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Yes, you do need a pretty good income to complete a collection. The Platinum Group Elements will be your most costly samples. Obtaining a Troy Ounce of each Platinum Group Metal will cost you approximately $10,000 at the current going rate for these metals. With the fact that China is moving into the world economy, as well as many other countries which are becoming technologically advanced, the demand for precious metals is going to skyrocket. I was VERY fortunate in that when I bought my rhodium metal sample (10-grams) Rh was only about $600 an ounce, I believe, so it cost me around $200. That $200 investment is now worth close to $1,800! :o (I think these prices are correct. It's been so long that the cost at the time is a bit fuzzy for me).
What I found is that element purchases tend to happen in bunches. I'll pick up one sample, then within the next few weeks pick up five or six more. Yes my collection has been complete for quite some time now, but complete doesn't mean "done". I'm always on the lookout for nice samples at great prices. I'm only an unoxidized sample of Potassium away from having completely clean and oxide free samples of EVERY alkali metal. I have five gram ampoules of Cs and Rb, and after seeing those I'd like to one day have five gram oxide free samples of Li, Na, and K in similar sized containers just to show off the density differences.
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Hi again. Jdurg, I just posted a reply to your last posting, with a photo, stating I know a collector who wants to sell (as of 1/2/07) an ampule of unoxidized K, but that posting has not shown up here yet.
While waiting for that post to show up here, I emailed the seller to let him know of your interest in such an item. I turned it down on 1/2/07 because I was (and still am) satisfied with my sample of K. Let me know if you want to communicate with this collector if he's okay with it I'll get out of the way and let you two work it out.
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Obtaining a Troy Ounce of each Platinum Group Metal will cost you approximately $10,000 at the current going rate for these metals.
You can also (as I do) settle for much smaller amounts of the rare metals. In general, I try and aim for 10 g of each element, but for the expensive ones I have less, but try and get at least 1 g.
If you want something REALLY expensive, try and get your hands on 10 g of gem-quality carbon. I'd love to have a vial filled with that much in pieces of that stuff.
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I just had to laugh at this little fact. I had to go to Wal-Mart today to pick up some things and decided to walk by the solvents and plumbing area. Of course, they really don't have anything there that could be useful as the whole methamphetamine crap has caused Wal-Mart to remove anything good.
As I'm heading to the registers, I walked by the smoke detector area. I nearly fell on the ground laughing when I saw this "barely in English" generic smoke detector there for $5. On the back was the phrase "Caution: This detector contains approximately 1.0 microCuries of Americium-241...." For only $5, how could I not pick this up? Sure enough, I take it apart at home and there's the ionization chamber with a nice button of Am-241 in there. So I, after much effort, removed it from the circuitboard and put it in a jar with my other Am-241 sample.
Who'd have thunk you could get a transuranic element for $5 at Wal-Mart?!!!!! ;D
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The next element I want a sample of is cesium. I seem to be obsessed with liquid metals. I don't know about everyone else but I find them to be very noble.
Also, Jdurg, thanks for replying in the mercury thread. I figured out what my ailment was. It obviously wasn't the mercury. I had one too many energy drinks the last couple of days causing my chest to tighten up. I stopped and now I feel great.
I got a little question or two for you about your element collection pictures: Did you take that picture of radium? If or if not, where did you take the picture? (I wouldn't go on asking if those were yours though.. would be interesting if they were! :-X)
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The next element I want a sample of is cesium. I seem to be obsessed with liquid metals. I don't know about everyone else but I find them to be very noble.
Also, Jdurg, thanks for replying in the mercury thread. I figured out what my ailment was. It obviously wasn't the mercury. I had one too many energy drinks the last couple of days causing my chest to tighten up. I stopped and now I feel great.
I got a little question or two for you about your element collection pictures: Did you take that picture of radium? If or if not, where did you take the picture? (I wouldn't go on asking if those were yours though.. would be interesting if they were! :-X)
Hi Steve. No, the picture of Radium is not my sample. My sample of radium is simply some old watch hands with a radium chloride based paint. I found the picture of those rods of radium when I was doing some searching around on the internet. I can't recall the exact site, but I know it was a government sponsored site that had the image of radium on there.
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Hi All!
I want to make my own element (the full set of those available) ampoules. I've have been digging on this site and on the internet; Have not found anything specific describing the procedure of sealing glass based ampoules under Ar.
Any references and/or experience would be greatly appreciated.
BTW I definitely agree that acquisition opportunities seem to come in cycles...back to the element mines
Later
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I GUESS IT HAD TO HAPPEN...
My long run of luck has ended. I got burned by an eBay element seller from the UK (not housecat).
It is so degrading to have an element seller con you out of your cash (only $55 at that, how mean & petty). I know others have gone through a lot worse, but this feeling of being helplessly raped while eBay and Paltalk watch with indifference is too much for me. I will not let this happen again. I'm outta ebay. Too many scummy predators. Be careful newbies!
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If you've been done by a seller on eBay, then you should name them here!
What was their positive feedback rating?
Sorry you got conned.
Cheers,
Adam