There is a lot I could tell you about Gallium. I could bore you with the fact that this metal does not exist in its pure, elemental form in nature but only as a byproduct of mining other metals such as aluminum. Or that it was discovered by somebody called Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (yeah, me too), and named after his country of origin, France (“Gallia” is the Latin name for France). I could also tell you that gallium is used to manufacture microwaves and produce blue or violet LEDs. Bored yet?
Ok let’s skip all the boring stuff and get to the cool part. This metal melts when you hold it in your palm!
Product Details
Gallium is one of the 4 non-radioactive metals that liquefies at or near room temperature. It is a soft, odorless, silver-colored metal whose melting point is as low as 29.76 °C (or 85.57 °F). This explains why it melts at the touch of a human.
The metal is non toxic and could probably be swallowed. It’s been said to be useful in treating inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases and even cancer. I would not advice you to consume it, though. Especially if you were planning to get a cup, pour it inside and gulp as though it were water.
If you are crazy enough to have that as your plan, you may have to get quite a number of these though because they come in only 40 gram units.
Another fun fact about gallium: When it’s added to metals like steel or aluminium, it causes them to become brittle. So here’s a fun experiment idea. Get, say a coke can, and put some of your gallium on it and see how brittle the coke can gets.
Or better still, try using your gallium metal to make your own gallium DIY mirror. Simply get a plain sheet of transparent glass, melt some gallium and put it on one side of the glass, and bam! You have a mirror.
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