Can the TSA detect Gallium?

SixPapaCharlie said:
What about elemental sodium?
I buy it on amazon and that s#!t explodes when it comes in contact with water.
Click to expand...
Yep. Got to keep it stored in oil. Even moisture from your hands can cause a reaction.

I am aware of an incident in high school where a student "procured" a couple of chunks of Na from a chem lab, then flushed it down a couple of toilets. Porcelain shatters......
 
For a short while there was underground power cable made of Na.
 
Sac Arrow said:
We know what happens when people handle mercury with their hands
Click to expand...


My 11th grade Biology teacher had a vial of mercury and would pass it around the class for us to play with. A couple of days after playing with the mercury my gold senior ring turned silver. I wasn't sure why. My Uncle asked if I had been playing with quick silver, as he called it, and said that's what caused it. A jeweler was able to clean it up and make it gold again. It's a wonder I'm not dead yet...
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
What about elemental sodium?
I buy it on amazon and that s#!t explodes when it comes in contact with water.
Click to expand...

Have I got a hilarious story about sodium, empty gel pill capsules, and a high school swimming pool.
Oh, wait.
The statute of limitations has not run out on that event.
Nothing to see or hear at this time.
 
EppyGA said:
For a short while there was underground power cable made of Na.
Click to expand...

And the original power plant on the 2nd nuclear submarine was a liquid sodium plant. Leaks in the primary plant resulted in all sorts of fun in the bilges. They removed it, buried it in Idaho and used the same design as Nautilus for the new plant.
 
All these have nuthin' on this - I would have loved to see this in person...

 
The twit did not discover this on his own. It is well known in the semiconductor literature from the early days of fabricating gallium power diodes and transistors.
 
Dr. O said:
The twit did not discover this on his own. It is well known in the semiconductor literature from the early days of fabricating gallium power diodes and transistors.
Click to expand...

There have been many instances of independent scientific discoveries over the years. I was messing with the Fibonacci sequence a few years ago, and ended up discovering quite a few formulas for finding quite a few things about the sequence and other fun things. I thought I found something groundbreaking. After looking into it I realized that these had already been found long before any of us were born. While I was not the first to discover it, I did, in fact, discover it on my own. I've done this quite a few times over the years with other things. Then find out later it's been accomplished. Doesn't mean I (or the "twit") didn't do it on my or his own.
 
EdFred said:
There have been many instances of independent scientific discoveries over the years. I was messing with the Fibonacci sequence a few years ago, and ended up discovering quite a few formulas for finding quite a few things about the sequence and other fun things. I thought I found something groundbreaking. After looking into it I realized that these had already been found long before any of us were born. While I was not the first to discover it, I did, in fact, discover it on my own. I've done this quite a few times over the years with other things. Then find out later it's been accomplished. Doesn't mean I (or the "twit") didn't do it on my or his own.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of this, which is cool but pointless. :)


 
EdFred said:
There have been many instances of independent scientific discoveries over the years. I was messing with the Fibonacci sequence a few years ago, and ended up discovering quite a few formulas for finding quite a few things about the sequence and other fun things. I thought I found something groundbreaking. After looking into it I realized that these had already been found long before any of us were born. While I was not the first to discover it, I did, in fact, discover it on my own. I've done this quite a few times over the years with other things. Then find out later it's been accomplished. Doesn't mean I (or the "twit") didn't do it on my or his own.
Click to expand...
True. However, it's better when you are smart enough that you don't have to discover on your own why playing with a pressurized metal container whose structure you've just compromised, inches from your face, with absolutely zero protective gear is a bad idea. I particularly enjoy the part where he's wearing his safety glasses on the top of his head when he peers directly into the hole that's still spewing pressurized gas out of it, while the metal around it degrades by the second. Although hitting a ball with a compromised aluminum bat, with your girlfriend close enough by to easily take a shard to the heart or head is a close second. I think he learned the wrong lesson on this experiment, luckily for him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top