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Author: Subject: Bad days in the lab or with glassware?
confused
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[*] posted on 12-11-2013 at 23:42


just throwing out an idea, maybe soak up the fluid with an absorbant material? or stick it in a vacuum desicator and see what happens?
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UnintentionalChaos
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 00:40


Depending if the ferrofluid or aqueous, you could try washing it with kerosene/hexanes/etc or hot water to remove the fluid component. I suspect you will still have magnetite particles stuck to it. Perhaps warm oxalic acid solution will reduce and dissolve the extremely high surface area material. while probably not (or only minimally) doing any damage to the (probably) nickel plating on the outside.



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watson.fawkes
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 06:36


Quote: Originally posted by quantumchromodynamics  
You also can't heat up the magnet or it ruins the magnet.
If it cools down through its Curie point in the presence of a reasonably strong magnetic field, the (microscopic) magnetic domains will lock in alignment and you'll get a functional (macroscopic) magnet back.
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confused
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 08:12


wouldn't that require a very strong electromagnetic field, aslo, would that get the magnet back to its original strength?
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watson.fawkes
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 11:58


Quote: Originally posted by confused  
wouldn't that require a very strong electromagnetic field, aslo, would that get the magnet back to its original strength?
The minimum energy configuration for a magnet in an external magnetic field is to be aligned with it. Opposing alignment is thermal motion. If the external magnetic field is to weak, it has little effect over thermal motion. Once the external magnetic field is strong enough to push most of the magnetic domains into alignment, further field strength has ever diminishing returns.

As for "original" strength, you know that these materials are first manufactured as chemicals, then formed, and then finally magnetized, right? How do you suppose they become magnetic otherwise?
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quantumchromodynamics
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 18:08
heating neo magents


Thanks for suggestions. Good thoughts...

Heating a neodymium magnet is a bit different from heating a regular iron magnet. A neodymium magnet has a powder core inside with only a thin metallic coating on the outside. They are easily ruined even by mild heating.

If one "scientifically" tosses two neodymium magnets into the air (preferably with the lights out) they collide and smash emitting brilliant sparks. This experiment is interesting because each of the fragments remains magnetic and so the system stays clumped together even after many energetic collisions. If one recursively performs this experiment using fragments as input, eventually one is left with an entertaining glob of pulverized magnetic dust. Pressing the dust into a shape and gently heating on a hotplate yields ... non-magnetic detritus.

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watson.fawkes
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 19:58


Quote: Originally posted by quantumchromodynamics  
neodymium magnet has a powder core inside with only a thin metallic coating on the outside. They are easily ruined even by mild heating.
That very much depends on how they're manufactured. Are you referring to a sintered or bonded magnet? Cheap magnets manufactured with barely acceptable practices would act this way, but it's not a property of Nd magents as such.
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quantumchromodynamics
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 23:16
cheap neody


Mine are N50 from K&J Magnetics on this spec sheet

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/specs.asp

To my knowledge and experience neodymium magnets all have the property where they loose their magnetization if they are even mildly heated. What really happens is the magnets become useless if heated over about 80C, not even near Curie temperatures. The "hi temperature" magnets don't work much better.

From the K&J site FAQ:

21. Do I have to worry about temperature with neodymium magnets?

Yes. Neodymium Iron Boron magnets are sensitive to heat. If a magnet heated above its maximum operating temperature (176°F (80°C) for standard N grades) the magnet will permanently lose a fraction of its magnetic strength. If they are heated above their Curie temperature (590°F (310°C) for standard N grades), they will lose all of their magnetic properties. Different grades of neodymium different maximum operating and Curie temperatures. See our Neodymium Magnet Specifications Page for more details. We do stock a range of high temperature magnets, which you can see here.

Does anyone know of better neodymium magnets that can survive a bit of heat?
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DJF90
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[*] posted on 13-11-2013 at 23:38


Samarium-cobalt (SmCo) magnets are designed for high temperature operation. They're supposed to be not quite as strong as "neodymium" magnets but retain their magnetism even at elevated temperatures.
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blargish
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[*] posted on 30-11-2013 at 16:19


Dropped my 500 mL 24/40 ground glass RBF today :(:(:(. It was the only one that I had... I'm not in the greatest of moods

[Edited on 1-12-2013 by blargish]
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subsecret
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[*] posted on 14-12-2013 at 09:17


I dropped a 500 mL RBF on the concrete floor of my lab a while ago from about waist height. It bounced a few times, but luckily it was recovered without a chip. It shows no abnormal nucleation points during boiling (no lines of bubbles indicating invisible cracks). Not something I would expect from Bomex. :P



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[*] posted on 14-12-2013 at 11:28


lucky! I had something similar with a hollow 29/32 stopper.
It was greased and on the top of my Cl2 generator, the pressure built up and it shot out of the funnel and bounced waist height off the brick floor. It was intact but the lab smelt a little poolish after that :)





all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
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[*] posted on 26-12-2013 at 15:14
Cracked condenser


I made the stupid mistake of discontinuing the cooling while there was still boiling in the distilling flask. Consequence: a crack in the first turn of my beloved 600mm graham condenser.

The worst part? It was distilling water. :mad:
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[*] posted on 26-12-2013 at 16:42


Ouch, take it to i know a good one... Werner Vitt in Bruges



all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
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Gooferking Science
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[*] posted on 27-12-2013 at 09:39


Here is a series of stories. One day I was making nitric acid from potassium nitrate and sulfuric acid distillation. My mom came out to my lab to see what I was doing, and she accidentally undid my clamp, which made the boiling flask smash in my fume hood, distributing nitric acid on the table.

The next week I had ordered a new flask (A two neck) I distilled some ethanol in it, and the yeast burnt because I forgot it was distilling. The flask was ruined with carbon stains.

I ordered another two neck RB, and I accidentally dropped it when I had 500 ml of bleach in it, making a huge mess in my lab. I have not had an accident with an RB since, because I am much more careful.




Check out my YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/user/gooferking
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Pyro
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[*] posted on 27-12-2013 at 17:56


Gooferking, to get rid of that C mess put a bit of chromic acid in the flask (how much depends on how much mess there is) then gently heat the flask on a yellow sooty bunsen flame until the acid starts to fume. the stain should be gone after that. I did this just today with some black organic gunk that nothing would remove.

Today I removed some organic crap from my 1l sep. funnel with MeOH, then I drained and stoppered it and put it in the washing up sink, forgetting that it was full of hot water. after a few mins the stopper suddenly shot out and smashed into the wall, nearly hittIng my face!




all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
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HeYBrO
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[*] posted on 27-12-2013 at 19:37


I was cleaning up after an experiment and i dropped my thermometer into my 100 ml measuring cylinder from about 3 inches and it smashed the bulb ( lucky it wasn't mercury ). One time after purifying sodium carbonate in a 400 ml beaker i dried it on my hotplate which caked really badly onto the beaker. I got spatula to chip it away and i poked the spatula right through the beaker... luckily all my mishaps were relatively cheap.



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Lambda-Eyde
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[*] posted on 27-12-2013 at 23:22


Quote: Originally posted by NexusDNA  
I made the stupid mistake of discontinuing the cooling while there was still boiling in the distilling flask. Consequence: a crack in the first turn of my beloved 600mm graham condenser.

The worst part? It was distilling water. :mad:

This doesn't make any sense at all. A condenser shouldn't crack from boiling water without cooling, the temperature difference is only 70-80 degrees, which is nothing. It should handle at least 200 degrees without cooling. When using cooling water the distillate shouldn't be coming over at a temperature exceeding 150 C or so, the thermal shock might crack it. But boiling water, without cooling? Be very glad you weren't distilling nitric acid and that the condenser broke without turning into a disaster. Claim your money back, never buy from them again, and buy a liebig from a reputed manufacturer.




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HeYBrO
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shocked.gif posted on 29-12-2013 at 16:50


Quote: Originally posted by Pyro  
put a bit of chromic acid

there are better ways of cleaning glass than chromic acid. that stuff is horrible for you and the environment! plus there are better ways of cleaning carbon gunk see Cleaning of various "materials"

[Edited on 30-12-2013 by HeYBrO]

[Edited on 30-12-2013 by HeYBrO]




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blargish
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[*] posted on 30-12-2013 at 08:18


Quote: Originally posted by Gooferking Science  

The next week I had ordered a new flask (A two neck) I distilled some ethanol in it, and the yeast burnt because I forgot it was distilling. The flask was ruined with carbon stains.


I came across a really effective way on Youtube of getting rid of organic residues and carbon stains. Place the flask/beaker/whatever inside of a larger beaker to collect foam (the cleaning reaction foams over very violently). Add concentrated (~35%) hydrogen peroxide to the flask and follow it up with the addition of Iron (II) chloride solution. After the reaction, most of the residue, if not all, should be gone. Repeat if necessary. This has worked well for me in the past.
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DJF90
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[*] posted on 30-12-2013 at 09:12


@Blargish - This is Fenton's reagent and relies on the formation of Fe4+ and OH radicals, both actively oxidising species. Even dilute peroxide should work well.
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Mailinmypocket
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[*] posted on 9-1-2014 at 08:27


A few minutes ago I smashed a bottle containing a little under 2.5 litres of pentane on the floor... Thanks to my ID card which is on a lanyard around my neck getting snagged on the handle of the bottle on a shelf when I was unpacking an order Now I'm going to complain about how we need clips instead of the standard issue lanyards. Thank god it wasn't something more dangerous than being very flammable.
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DJF90
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[*] posted on 9-1-2014 at 13:39


My access card is on a lanyard also but I just tuck it in my shirt pocket.
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[*] posted on 12-1-2014 at 12:35


I just broke ANOTHER thermometer. That's three mercury thermometers and two spirit thermometers (one of which had a ground joint...) in the past three months. Also ran out of vacuum distillation adapters after I broke the barb off my last one.

[Edited on 12-1-2014 by *FWOOSH*]
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[*] posted on 15-1-2014 at 15:16


Smashed one of my last two Hg thermometers from stupidity with it just measuring a water bath. Arrgg. Used sulfur to clean up the bit of Hg I didn't recover...



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