Pretty Pictures (1)

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

It's a nice picture, but may I ask why the condenser is hooked up to the side neck instead of the center one?

Rocks & Minerals

It's time for a short geology lesson, boys and girls. Sorry, I don't have a DSLR, just a point and shoot in macro mode. Lighting is mostly halogen. The pictures may not be the prettiest, but it's overcast this morning and my hands are too shaky to compensate with longer exposures.
Note: Click thumbnails for original full resolution photos.

<table width="804" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" align="center"><tr><td><a href="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/atacamite.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/atacamite_thumb.jpg" /></a></td><td><a href="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/columbite-tantalite.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/columbite-tantalite_thumb.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacamite" target="_blank">Atacamite</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />, Cu₂Cl(OH)₃, from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_locality_(geology)" target="_blank">type locality</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert" target="_blank">Atacama Desert</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />, Chile&mdash;a region I hope to visit someday.</td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan" target="_blank">Columbite-Tantalite</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> (Nb/Ta minerals)</td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/manganite.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/manganite_thumb.jpg" /></a></td><td><a href="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/vanadinite.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/vanadinite_thumb.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="" target="_blank">Manganite</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />, MnO(OH), high purity crystals</td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanadinite" target="_blank">Vanadinite</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> (Pb₅(VO₄₃Cl) on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryte" target="_blank">Barite</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> (BaSO₄</td></tr></table>

I hope to post a picture in the future of some Au specks I found on a rock in the Black Hills, SD. I'll need to set up a microscope or powerful loupe, though. It was a real treat to find a native element!

<!-- top secret project <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganese_nodule" target="_blank">Manganese (polymetallic) nodule</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />
<a href="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/manganese_nodule.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.medievalsiege.net/bfesser/images/geology/manganese_nodule_thumb.jpg" /></a>
The manganese nodule may not be impressive to any of you, but it's beatiful in my eyes. For me, it holds special significance, mainly because I collected it myself by trespassing on privately owned land (destroyed a shirt while prone-crawling under the barbed-wire perimeter fence) <a href="http://wikimapia.org/#lat=43.8059734&lon=-99.4048656&z=18&l=0&m=b" target="_blank">near Oacoma, SD</a> <img src="../scipics/_ext.png" />. I think it's cool to hold something that once formed at a fumeral near a mid-oceanic ridge. I plan to return to the locale to collect more specimens, this time with landowner permission. -->

[Edited on 7/23/13 by bfesser]

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser

It's time for a short geology lesson, boys and girls.

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser

turd; seriously? Who are you trying to impress with your attempted correction?

Well, English speaking countries tend to have some peculiar customs[1]. So maybe they classify mineralogy and petrology as a subfield of geology - but in my neck of the wood this is certainly not the case, just like biology is not considered part of chemistry and chemistry is not considered a part of physics. I converse with both - geologists and mineralogist - and apart from belonging to the same faculty (earth sciences or geosciences) they have little in common. Different analytic methods, different field trips, different conferences, etc. And certainly they would not consider one a subfield of the other.

Edit: When I get a lesson in geology I expect pictures of outcrops (c.f. https://www.google.com/search?q=outcrop&tbm=isch). Of folds, cinder cones, etc. The pictures you posted are clearly for a mineralogy lesson (and yes, even the Mn thing will be typically found in a mineralogical collection). That's all I said.

[1] Like publishing full name and photo of suspects and convicts from people who pissed against a tree to child molesters. Or believing that 16 year olds are responsible enough to drive a car, but they may only decide to relax with a beer with 21. No wonder they're all a little bit tense.

<!-- bfesser_edit_tag -->[<a href="u2u.php?action=send&username=bfesser">bfesser</a>: fixed broken image(s)]

[Edited on 7/9/13 by bfesser]

Fair enough, turd. I concede your point.

An <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcrop" target="_blank">outcrop</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> exhibiting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fold_(geology)" target="_blank">folding</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticline" target="_blank">anticline</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> most clearly visible) in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hills" target="_blank">Black Hills, SD</a> <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" />.
Exact location forgotten (I didn't take the photo&ndash;I was unwittingly in it).

Sorry, it's definitely not a "pretty picture".

[Edited on 7/9/13 by bfesser]

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser

Sorry, it's definitely not a "pretty picture".

Quote: Originally posted by turd

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser   Sorry, it's definitely not a "pretty picture". The photography snobs will definitely complain (the lighting! the detail! the composition!), but I think it's a nice picture. It conveys an interesting situation. [Edited on 6-5-2012 by turd]

Demanding artistic creativity from a bunch of autistic nerds may not be snobbish, but probably is futile.

After the short excursion into geology/pretrology/mineralogy, back to some chemistry: 2,5-dimethoxy-benzaldehyde and 2,5-dimethoxy-beta-nitrostyrene. Which is which is obvious. The last picture is taken under a polarizing filter - for some reason it's impossible to catch the amazing views with a CCD/CMOS camera. At least one sees a little bit of dichroism.

Copper Acetate

As promised, here are the crystals are 'cleaning them' with glacial acetic acid. I am planning on using one of these as a seed crystal and going after much larger ones. More pics to come!



Also, here is the BaCl2 after filtering and rinsing. They are so clear, they may be tough to see.

Those are nice pictures, but I think that with all pictures, the viewer should have a sense of scale. I understand that with microscope shots, including scale is difficult if not impossible, but you could at least include the magnification

I have some copper acetate I prepared two years ago. I never bothered to grow crystals because the powder dissolves faster, and I'm an impatient person Since I haven't used it for anything for a very long time, I'll grow crystals and post pictures.

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

Those are nice pictures, but I think that with all pictures, the viewer should have a sense of scale. I understand that with microscope shots, including scale is difficult if not impossible, but you could at least include the magnification I have some copper acetate I prepared two years ago. I never bothered to grow crystals because the powder dissolves faster, and I'm an impatient person Since I haven't used it for anything for a very long time, I'll grow crystals and post pictures.

True, eh maybe next time with the larger crystals. I just like the geometry of these!

Be sure to post yours when you're done!

[Edited on 9-5-2012 by sargent1015]

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

Those are nice pictures, but I think that with all pictures, the viewer should have a sense of scale. I understand that with microscope shots, including scale is difficult if not impossible, but you could at least include the magnification

Quote: Originally posted by turd

Demanding artistic creativity from a bunch of autistic nerds may not be snobbish, but probably is futile. After the short excursion into geology/pretrology/mineralogy, back to some chemistry: 2,5-dimethoxy-benzaldehyde and 2,5-dimethoxy-beta-nitrostyrene. Which is which is obvious. The last picture is taken under a polarizing filter - for some reason it's impossible to catch the amazing views with a CCD/CMOS camera. At least one sees a little bit of dichroism.

Wow nice crystals!!! They look almost psychedelic

A little gif from trimethylborate flames a couple of friends and I made a year ago..

Edit: Edited the gif a with the proper delay between each frame (150ms).

Edit: Another one, though not animated..


[Edited on 11-5-2012 by bahamuth]

[Edited on 11-5-2012 by bahamuth]

[Edited on 11-5-2012 by bahamuth]

Magnesium Chloride needle-like crystals. Awful yield, but fantastic purity. Anyone have a better method for crashing these out of solution and washing them?

That picture is fuzzeh. Try using macro mode. Also, try not to get Endimion17 too upset about form, shape, perspective, colour, balance and texture or lack thereof

Aw man it is fuzzy... Crap...

turd, bahamuth, AWESOME

[Edited on 18-5-2012 by Endimion17]

Here's a bit of copper acetate I made recently.



[Edited on 21-5-2012 by liquidlightning]

It's long ago since I posted, here are the newest things(:

At first some azulene, what crystallized out from the reactions rest.

Second: mother of all column chromatographys. A 170cm tall column, 3000g of silica, 15liters of petrolether and 5 hours till the column did what it should. Any comments?

Check out my blog and see some other pictures(:
-and if You want to help me a bit, then please check out the google ads

CLICK

_{Edit by Nicodem: Changed the URL on author's request.}

[Edited on 12/7/2012 by Nicodem]

That chromatography column . . .hmmm . . .the ultimatum of nerd porn?

I also like the huge glass funnels in the background and the crystal formations in the first picture are really nice....this sort of thing and crystal growing/forming has to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of chemistry

That's an amazing chromatography column, it's taller than I am

Did you make any TLCs to analyse the purity of your azulene?

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

Did you make any TLCs to analyse the purity of your azulene?

Yepp, TLC and also NMR.

The surpise was there was a black gunk what came down on the column with the azulene, but it didn't came down with the pure azulene(:

-it wasn't my reaction, it was just in that lab where I am also and I helped a bit.

Recently I made some metals acetylacetonates!
-Cr(III) acetylacetonate

-Co(II) acetylacetonate

-Ni(II) acetylacetonate

I like very much their colors

I'm going to make other acetylacetonates!
I think that I made today: rubicene crystals

Eddygp: why not simply post the picture when it is aleady ready?

Also, I have a few pics(:

Here, my actual fav picture:


And another one made from some methyl orange and some crystal violet:


For more science realated pictures/videos, visit: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/ -and check out the google ads, thanks(:

Quote: Originally posted by kristofvagyok

Eddygp: why not simply post the picture when it is aleady ready? Also, I have a few pics(: Here, my actual fav picture: And another one made from some methyl orange and some crystal violet: For more science realated pictures/videos, visit: http://labphoto.tumblr.com/ -and check out the google ads, thanks(:

Cu complex salts

Tetramine copper chlorate and Tetramine copper nitrate.

Not sure if this counts as pretty, more like fascinating, but here's an outdated pic of my collection:

I made the table myself!

Just thought I'd join in with a couple of pretty co-ordination compounds.


Firstly, some tetramminecopper(II) sulfate monohydrate


<hr>

Hexamminecobalt(III) chloride


<hr>

And here they are side by side



The yield of the hexamminecobalt (III) chloride was, as I recall, just under 0.5%, and this actually seemed somewhat better than many others achieved.
<hr>

Also, I tried to use the site's FTP rather than attaching the images. However, although I was able to connect, the directory was read-only. Do I need to request FTP access? I read through the threads I could find on FTP and image uploads / insertion and couldn't find anything saying that any special action was required.

If I'm able to get them uploaded properly via FTP, I'll edit this post or post a new one with those images rather than clunky thumbnails.

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]

maybe not so pretty but ammonium sulphate crystals.

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

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

Beautiful crystal, I love copper acetate for that reason!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

White phosphorus, of course!

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]

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

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

just got a very nice picture of iron that has changed from solid to liquid in a small area (ie. cutting with an acetylene torch)
and the the crystalline structure inside a solidified lump of iron that came from cutting.
sorry about the size






[Edited on 17-7-2012 by Pyro]

My own sulfur crystals

synthetic sunrise

a 2-ethylhexylmercaptan complex i just recently synthesized

crystals of potassium chlorate from the bleach method



this method is very inefficient. this is from about 5-6 cups of bleach @ 6%. there may be a couple of grams to scrape out of my crystallization dish.

[Edited on 22-7-2012 by Rogeryermaw]

I put together a weather glass a while back and it is supposed to react to weather conditions with different crystal patterns and whatnot. I have forgotten about it for a few months and today we had a big storm and I got the idea to go see what is was doing. It is supposed to start crystalling in response to weather coming in 1-2 days so i don't know when it started to crystallize, it is normally a clear solution though. It was "snowing" these snowflake pattern crystals which, according to the prep I used indicates precipitation! I'm not sure that this is a reliable way to predict weather but pretty nonetheless!


The second picture is one of some crystals of KClO3 I had crystallizing in the fridge after 2 days of electrolysis with MMO electrodes Long needle crystals, looked quite nicer in person but you get the idea.

Quote: Originally posted by Wizzard

My own sulfur crystals

Interesting, Mailinmypocket, I was just preparing to make my own version. It responds to the temperature and is a very unreliable method, but so pretty.

Here's something special, although the photo is a disaster.


It's a phosphorus ring I'm holding above a wet floor. It reminded me of annular eclipse sunsets.
Unfortunatelly, it snapped. You can see it here. 1, 2

Endimion17, you really have an obsession with preparing white phosphorus. I made some WP myself, about a quarter of a gram, the glow was simply stunning, but the smell of P2O10 and the hazards of WP still give me the chills. That's when I know I'll won't make white phosphorus for fun unless I have a really good use for it.

Altogether, how many pounds of phosphorus do you think you've made so far?

This is it. I don't know the exact mass because I didn't really care to measure it before the last purification. My last very pure batch (check the phosphorus preparation thread) is less than 4 g. It might seem much, but it really isn't. The entire volume I've ever made, combined, is probably less than one smaller human finger.

I've made a benzene solution of it and spilled it outside in the dark. Holy crap, it's awesome in the breeze (I was upwind, mainly to avoid benzene, the amount of P is actually negligible). It reminds of the tales of will-o'-the-wisp. Cold, eerie fire that lasts for 10 minutes or more. My cat displayed a significant amount of interest.

One more photo, of the nitric acid method of purification.


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the opening of the Olympic games. So far, it's been awesome.

A RBF full of orange peel, for distilling off some limonene.

Some nice samples, unfortunately my coal-fired camera takes terrible images of them...

First is a large Bismuth crystal I grew, it is about 4cm across at the bottom.

Second is a beautiful sample of Vanadinita I purchased - the hexagonal crystal structure is evident.

Quote: Originally posted by metalresearcher

@woelen: Pic 2 is really nice but is that not an explosion hazard ? Vaporized ethanol (or even supermarket-grade methylated spirit with the blue dye) with air is explosive ?? Pic 3: Singlet oxygen is single atomic O ? Nice trick if I can get the 30% H2O2 (ebay ?) and swimming pool stuff.

Quote: Originally posted by adianadiadi

Quote: Originally posted by metalresearcher   @woelen: Wonderful. May I know where from I get that swimming pool chemical? Try http://www.purehealthdiscounts.com/pool.htm

It's like inception. A quote within a quote! LOL

Robert

Quote: Originally posted by White Yeti

Sometimes the program puts an extra quote bubble around what you say, it's odd. Has anyone else had the same problem?

Freshly grown tin crystals

Made some floating tin sponges tonight, this is the underside of the first one made in 10 minutes. I wish I was able to take closer up pictures of the crystals though.

I have another set going now, hopefully there are larger crystals!

Oh, Mailinmypocket, if you could only take a macro photo to show the intricate details. :O They seem to look like a forest of Christmas trees. How did you make them?


BTW here's something I've promised to post few days ago.

(full size photo)

Also, here's a photo of me cutting the sample with a knife. I think this was 30s exposure time, so the glow is too powerful. Nevertheless, an interesting photo.

I've borrowed my friend's camera. The sample's wet parts seem to have a much greater amount of color, but that's because of the greenish glow illuminating the insides of it.
As it's hard to catch the "real" color (makes you thing about the general concept of what's real), I tried to simulate it and I think I've hit the nail on the head. The exposure time might've been a tad bit too long, but that's ok. When you accustom your sight to the darkness, it really glows like this.
My only regret is that I can't find the way to capture the glowing fumes. A high definition video would be awesome, but that's impossible with today's cameras. One day we'll see that, too.

[Edited on 6-8-2012 by Endimion17]

[Edited on 7-8-2012 by Endimion17]

Quote: Originally posted by Endimion17

Oh, Mailinmypocket, if you could only take a macro photo to show the intricate details. :O They seem to look like a forest of Christmas trees. How did you make them?

Thanks they really do look awesome in bright light, so intricate and shiny, the other batch came out more flakey and less "needle-ish". Not really photo worthy..

its actually very simple to do, I have attached the PDF instructions but I do not follow this exactly... sometimes I use more or less SnCl2, to see how it turns out. I also dont bother filtering the acidified SnCl2 solution unless I really want to watch the growth (which happens really quickly). If you dont filter it it will just be milky, but does clear up somewhat when the tin crystals have stopped growing.

I used granular Zn instead of mossy as is suggested in the paper, next time i will try Zn dust and see how that goes.

Nice P pictures btw! You really have a perfect processes

Attachment: Tin Sponge.pdf (211kB)
This file has been downloaded 535 times

SbI3

Ultra glittery SbI3 after vacuum drying

More pictures of the synthesis in the SbI3 thread.



[Edited on 13-8-2012 by Mailinmypocket]

OTC Copper Mirror

Well, a partial one anyway. A 5mm wide band of good "mirror" with the area above and below coated in a somewhat granular layer. Still fiddling with the process.

Copper / Ammonium complex reduced with Ascorbic acid.



[Edited on 19-8-2012 by arclight]