imisscookie Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) Over the summer I created a fuel ox mix with gallium, a metal which is a liquid above 30oC. The <100mg mix was ignited by laser in a wide mouth pyrex 500mL. It was prepared by warming Ga to liquid then adding KClO4 stiochiometrically + 10%; it was mixed only briefly, since the Ga tends to bead up a bit, but maybe that was for the best. After doing searches, I'm pretty sure it was the first time that particular chemical reaction happened. If someone can show otherwise, I'd be interested in it. (Adding after reviewing video a few times) There was a strange whooshing sound, and it proceeded to go from a bleached purple to white with hint of blue, then got more intense and crackled and this is when glass broke, then throwing long sparks of white; lasted a lengthy 7 seconds; suspect from video there is quite a UV component like Mg. This particular mix could be explored as lift fuel or tweaked into an amazing fountain display; Ga is relatively inexpensive, but in pyro would be considered high priced. The potential I'm thinking of, is when Ga is combined with Al even in small amounts, it tends to "eat" away at it, seeping through, a little goes a long way at making a brittle alloy which may be an amazing pyro chemical. This 'reaction' (which may be more physical than chemical) is the reason Ga requires hazard shipping, despite being safe to handle (quite strange to melt metal in the hand). Maybe this won't fit into a good use other than esoteric experimenting, but I plan to try it soon. As for the Ga+KP alone, its the slowest most interesting "flash" I've seen so far. I'd call it Glow instead of flash. Flames, comments, ideas? Edited January 21, 2013 by imisscookie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexpyro101 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 that is really interesting to me, i would love to see a video of the reaction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imisscookie Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Would be glad to PM you with the 10 second vid and who else is interested, soon as I try to figure out why sound isn't included unless played back on phone. No way I'd believe it was such a small starting amount from video alone, potent stuff. I've used Ga in other experiments (one on going with Au nanofibers); from its diverse chemistry, pretty sure the fountain created through sequence of a few separate reactions. Ga sounds less reactive than Al, but more diverse in what it can create (such as Cl compounds). It is one of only a handful of substances which is more dense when liquid, it is being explored in simple compounds as catalyst to release H gas from water, list goes on. Ga being more expensive, 350$/kg listed on metal charts (I bought smaller amount, payed much more /g than that online, but this experiment was like 1$) so this stuff would be limited to special occasions. in my brief trial, very impressive, hope someone can use this idea to make an awesome combo with Ga. At least,I assume it could make it easy to powder Al if the 'alloy' doesn't add anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirCowPeacock Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Have you tried mixing it at 1% with dark Al? You would probably have to powder the Ga first, mix it in, then warm to melting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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