RE: Today I discovered . . . Padlock Porn
A couple of years ago, Katie and I did a bunch of experiments with Gallium. It is an ASTONISHING metal. To wit:
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If you want to get kids interested in science, few things compare to the magic of Gallium.
BTW: The reason he scratches the aluminum padlock (under the drop of Gallium) is to remove the thin layer of aluminum oxide (aluminum rust) so as to allow the Gallium to react with the aluminum directly. Aluminum is viciously reactive with oxygen and forms aluminum oxide in a matter of milliseconds when exposed to air. Gallium prevents the formation of aluminum oxide.
Throw a small piece of the Gallium-Aluminum alloy in water and you will have an ENORMOUS release of hydrogen (as the aluminum strips the hydrogen atoms away from their oxygen atoms in the H20). The process is extremely exothermic (the water gets very hot).
The whole process in endlessly recyclable as you can recover all the Gallium and Aluminum and repeat the process over and over.
Quill
Cool! This was one of the videos suggested as I was watching all the other vids, but I was too caught up with all the others :-)
Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely have a go at that experiment with little one. She loves a good bit of fizzing and banging :-)
Cg