Reaction of Liquid Gallium with Aluminium

So, today we are going to carry out further experiments with an unusual metal - gallium. This metal has one interesting feature.
It is able to create an amalgam with another metal, such as aluminum or iron. To demonstrate this property I will conduct an experiment.
Let’s take the aluminum radiator from a computer and drip about 2 grams of liquid gallium onto it. To speed up the reaction of gallium with the aluminum, its surface was scratched with a knife.
During amalgamation, gallium penetrates the crystal lattice of the aluminum, thereby disrupting its structure.
In this case aluminum becomes very brittle like glass. I will leave the aluminum radiator to soak with gallium for a couple of days.
After 2 days we need to wash the unreacted residues of gallium from the aluminum. Now let’s check the fragility of the aluminum radiator.
As you can see, with a little effort aluminum easily starts to break in my hands. If I had left the radiator impregnated with gallium even longer it would have become even more fragile.
Now let’s conduct another experiment. Take an aluminum foil and fold it several times. Next, we need to cut it into small pieces.
And add a few drops of liquid gallium to these pieces. Now let’s start making gallium and aluminum alloy by stirring them.
Over time, you will notice that aluminum begins to dissolve in gallium and foil turns into a silver slurry.
This paste is an amalgam of aluminum and gallium which has an unusual property. When you throw it in water, it will start the generation of large quantities of hydrogen.
The reason is that when alloying of aluminum and gallium occurs gallium prevents the formation of the protective oxide film on aluminum surface.
Without it, the aluminum begins to react rapidly with water to form hydrogen and aluminum oxide. However, gallium in this reaction is not consumed.
It can be collected and reused. This property of gallium - aluminum alloy has been patented by an American company to produce hydrogen.
However, due to the high price of gallium this project never became incarnated to the masses. Stay on my channel and you'll learn some more amazing properties of Gallium metal.

[azazelmakara]

I was reading Randall Monroe's book ' what if?' and it mentioned gallium infiltration and said to check it out.
He was right when he said it was pretty cool.

[loganwilcox]

I'm here bc I was watching a video about anti-robot ammo. Basically, they are experimenting with gallium bullets to take out drones. Crazy stuff!

[origamigek]

The reaction of finely dispersed aluminium and water was many times more vigorous than I expected.
I wonder if an even more rapid reaction would occur with magnesium.

[xxxxx]

The hydrogen thing I did on accident. Glad to know it was just hydrogen i made.

[johnybmb]

The aluminium radiator seems affected in it's entire structure, even though the gallium only attacks where it is placed on the radiator. This means that the remaining aluminium is not contaminated with gallium, but only it's internal crystalline structure is affected. Therefore, this could be useful in making aluminium powder, since the affected aluminium is way more brittle than pure aluminium, much like 50/50 magnalium.

[zzcrazzprozz]

does the gallium have to stay liquid for this to work? if so, what method of maintaining above room temperature would you recommend?

[intothecalm]

Wow, did it penetrate the aluminum even where the gallium wasn't in direct contact? crazy, awesome channel!

[boatingman]

Wow. I had no idea. This is a great video. Thank you for your work.

[Alovatololo]

That's a pretty useful process. If you perfect it you could make a lot of hydrogen gas to use as fuel.

[andycho]

this guy is like the european boomhauer

[pointlessopinion]

This guy has so many good videos. It won't be long before he has a few million subscribers.




Now you know of such a channel as Thiosoi.

[jonathankarn]

I have gallium and I put some on an aluminum beverage can (after scratching the surface to expose the aluminum). Do I need to keep the can above gallium's melting point or can I let it solidify? Will the amalgam still form and will the cup become brittle?

[brankodimitrijevic]

so galium is reciclated from the reaction so why is the price of the galium the problem of the production if you buy it just once???

[lullylew]

Holy cow. I didn't expect the whole thing to become that fragile. I expected like a messy crater only. Wow.

[justrandom]

Your channel is inspiring my small channel to do expirements like this in fact I have ordered about 1kg of gallium

[jimmartin]

Try it with infrasound at different Hertz within a vacuum with a small electric current! ; )

[judekeeley]

For a can, how long do you leave the gallium to soak and how do you keep the gallium from solidifying over the multiple days?

[deebee]

Will solid Gallium destroy aluminum or does it need to be liquid?

[santhysdharan]

did aluminium and galium amalgam past put in water generate both hydrogen and Al oxides?

[Jamesvandaele]

We need more experiments on the gallium aluminum alloy in water, and how to capture the aluminum oxides after the reaction. Power a generator with it and you have a viral video if you title it well.