Draeger
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Cheap, interesting elements/compounds to buy?
I currently can't really spend all that much money, so I was wondering which elements I should buy? As you can see in my signature, I really don't
have a lot and I was wondering which element could be fun to play around with, and can maybe be used long term, so I don't have to buy too much else.
I don't have a fume hood or the ability to really do anything outside, so particularly toxic elements aren't really something I can handle.
Any ideas?
Collected elements:
Al, Cu, Ga, C (coal), S, Zn, Na
Collected compounds:
Inorganic:
NaOH; NaHCO3; MnCl2; MnCO3; CuSO4; FeSO4; aq. 30-33% HCl; aq. NaClO; aq. 9,5% ammonia; aq. 94-96% H2SO4; aq. 3% H2O2
Organic:
citric acid, sodium acetate, sodium citrate, petroleum, mineral oil
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G-Coupled
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You could add some form(s) of K to your collection by extracting it from your urine! 
There's a recent thread related to that floating about IIRC.
Here it is.
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ShotBored
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I think Boron compounds are incredibly interesting and has a multitude of interesting studies in many fields surrounding it right now. Elemental,
amorphous Boron can be a bit expensive (around $40/kg), but I think you can get boric acid for fairly cheap!
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Draeger
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That's a bit too gross to me.
Collected elements:
Al, Cu, Ga, C (coal), S, Zn, Na
Collected compounds:
Inorganic:
NaOH; NaHCO3; MnCl2; MnCO3; CuSO4; FeSO4; aq. 30-33% HCl; aq. NaClO; aq. 9,5% ammonia; aq. 94-96% H2SO4; aq. 3% H2O2
Organic:
citric acid, sodium acetate, sodium citrate, petroleum, mineral oil
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Bedlasky
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Molybdenum have quite interesting chemistry. Molybdenum compounds aren't cheap, but also they aren't too expensive. And you don't need big quantities
of it. The most common molybdenum compounds are sodium molybdate, molybdenum trioxide, ammonium molybdate and ammonium heptamolybdate. In my country
you can get bottle with 100g sodium molybdate dihydrate for 11€. For test tube reactions and few preparations of molybdenum complexes it's just
enough. I am working on article about Mo complex chemistry - so you can latter check my website for inspiration. I plan more articles about Mo
chemistry, but I sadly haven't enough time to wrote them, so it will took some time. Here is article about Mo redox chemistry.
Very interesting and colourful redox chemistry have Mn. If you can get KMnO4 and one another manganese compound (MnO2, MnCO3, MnSO4, MnCl2,
Mn(NO3)2...) and few other reagents you are able to due really remarkable chemistry. KMnO4 can be purchased online or in local pharmacy, rest of Mn
compounds online. I know that KMnO4 is hard to obtain in many countries, CZ is somewhat more benevolent in selling chemicals than western Europe, but
I think that KMnO4 should be at least obtainable in pharmacy in Germany. At worst there are few ways how to make it from MnO2. Here is something about
Mn redox chemistry in alkaline solution.
[Edited on 6-5-2020 by Bedlasky]
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Draeger
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Quote: Originally posted by ShotBored  | | I think Boron compounds are incredibly interesting and has a multitude of interesting studies in many fields surrounding it right now. Elemental,
amorphous Boron can be a bit expensive (around $40/kg), but I think you can get boric acid for fairly cheap! |
I don't want to accidentally create boranes somehow, so I don't really feel safe handling boron compounds. I might look into it once I have more
experience and can guarantee I don't accidentally create boranes.
Collected elements:
Al, Cu, Ga, C (coal), S, Zn, Na
Collected compounds:
Inorganic:
NaOH; NaHCO3; MnCl2; MnCO3; CuSO4; FeSO4; aq. 30-33% HCl; aq. NaClO; aq. 9,5% ammonia; aq. 94-96% H2SO4; aq. 3% H2O2
Organic:
citric acid, sodium acetate, sodium citrate, petroleum, mineral oil
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Refinery
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Mood: Still
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Chinesium.
Unobtainium.
Adamantium.
For the starters.
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Syn the Sizer
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I once found an ad for 1 troy ounce of Unobtanium encased in in an Adamantium shell. I was excited I thought "Hell Unobtanium and Adamantium in 1
order, I can get 2 birds stones at once", when my order arrived I was so eager to bust that package open and fix my eyes on 2 elements I had only
heard of in story books and can't seem to find on a periodic table, I opened the package and was faced with a 1.5cm cube of blue Chinesium in a clear
Chinesium bubble pack. I should have know better when it was advertised for $1.99.
All jokes aside, KI is pretty cheap if you are looking to add K to your list, and if you get enough you can you can isolate I and have 2 elements for
both your collection and to work with. NaBr and isolate Br and store in ampules. Mg ribbon is fairly cheap too. None of these are super interesting
but with Mg menthol and a few other items you can produce Na metal using the NurdRages method.
Edit:
I should say isolating K from KI is not easy like isolating I from KI
[Edited on 7-5-2020 by Syn the Sizer]
[Edited on 7-5-2020 by Syn the Sizer]
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njl
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@Draeger please let me know how to accidentally create boranes because that sounds like a useful skill
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Heptylene
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Rhodium
Iron? It really is dirt cheap and you can get really nice electrolytically refined chunks which are very pretty.
Silicon is one of my favorite, you can get exceedingly pure samples (> 99.99%) in the form of large chunks very cheaply and they look stunning.
Pretty useless however.
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B(a)P
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I am not promoting these guys or affiliated with them, but they are in your general 'vicinity' and have a lot of reasonably priced and interesting
compounds.
https://chemcraft.su/
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Herr Haber
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Chemcraft and Onyxmet are great sources for your needs.
They have very pure elements in several form, allotropes etc. Both have a decent range of interesting products too.
Then there are Chinese sellers on eBay that are way cheaper but... https://youtu.be/Ef9QnZVpVd8
Though this could be interesting for you since you'd have to find out way to make sure you got the real thing !
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Dr.Bob
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No way to make boranes from boric acid and borax, so no reason to fear them. They are mildly toxic, but not so much that you can't put them in your
laundry.
I have some old samples of a few odd elements that I collected years ago. If people in the US are interested in odd elements, let me know and maybe
I can gather up some samples of them to share. I had things like cadmium metal, silicon (very useful for making chips), zinc, tin, and quite a few
others, which I need to dig out of my older junk pile. Just kinda curious how many people in the US do that.
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Sulaiman
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I bought a used 'chemistry set' via eBay when I started this hobby about 6 years ago,
Some have lots of useful equipment and chemicals and can be very cheap
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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Texium
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Based on the list of compounds in your signature, it looks like you have a lot of copper chemistry you can do before you even get burned out on what
you have. You can make basic copper(II) carbonate,* copper(II) chloride, copper(II) oxide, and copper(II) citrate just with what you have listed in
your signature. Look at the Sciencemadness Wiki pages for any of these if you need help.
*Assuming you have or can easily obtain sodium bicarbonate, though it isn't in your signature.
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Syn the Sizer
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| Quote: Originally posted by Texium (zts16) | Based on the list of compounds in your signature, it looks like you have a lot of copper chemistry you can do before you even get burned out on what
you have. You can make basic copper(II) carbonate,* copper(II) chloride, copper(II) oxide, and copper(II) citrate just with what you have listed in
your signature. Look at the Sciencemadness Wiki pages for any of these if you need help.
*Assuming you have or can easily obtain sodium bicarbonate, though it isn't in your signature.
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I have been looking for another copper compound I could make with what I have here, why didn't I think of copper II citrate.
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Bedlasky
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| Quote: Originally posted by Texium (zts16) | Based on the list of compounds in your signature, it looks like you have a lot of copper chemistry you can do before you even get burned out on what
you have. You can make basic copper(II) carbonate,* copper(II) chloride, copper(II) oxide, and copper(II) citrate just with what you have listed in
your signature. Look at the Sciencemadness Wiki pages for any of these if you need help.
*Assuming you have or can easily obtain sodium bicarbonate, though it isn't in your signature.
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He can also make tetraaminecopper sulfate monohydrate.
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clearly_not_atara
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Niobium is reported to display a blue patina when the pure metal is allowed to weather in air. Wikipedia shows it on a cube:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobium#/media/File:Niobium_cr...
[Edited on 04-20-1969 by clearly_not_atara]
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