Amazing - What Gallium does to an Aluminium Can

Liquid Gallium metal Vs Aluminium or Aluminum. Watch what happens if you put Gallium onto aluminium. I had to sand down the surface of the can to get it to work. The drinks can seems to absorb some of the gallium, and change the structure of the can. It becomes soft and very weak.

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[hattorihonzo]

I googled “most complicated way to open and drink a soda” and got this. Thank you its perfect. Off to enjoy my soda now.

[alexsang]

There was a thin layer of aluminum oxyde, which is the reaction product between air and aluminium. That's why it didn't work until you used sandpaper

[samueltellier]

The best part of this video is that it isn't clickbait
EDIT: 2k?

[davidcarlson]

The most amazing aspect to me is that the entire top was affected, not just the aluminum _under_ the pool of gallium, which points to extreme efficiency in gallium wicking between the grain boundaries, wicking laterally many-many times the thickness of the aluminum.

Might be a good plot for a spy thriller, as a means of disabling an aircraft on a long flight

[kequn]

i really dont know why would people dislike his vids

[Nathorix]

I think people are disliking due to the first couple failed attempts and they kinda gave up watching more.

[poland]

I respect you guys a lot, unlike some other channels, you actually take the drink out of the can before starting.

[lukeleavitt]

Yeah it's always best to scratch the oxide layer off the aluminum it helps the gallium penetrate into the aluminum to start the amalgamation process

[RadicalCaveman]

The guy who wrote that music had it rejected for all the 1980's video games. Now, at last, his creation sees the light of day!

[domipromi]

You could be a brilliant science teacher!

[nicholaslau]

Aluminium has a natural oxidation layer that protects it from corrosion. That is why you do not see aluminium "rust" like iron or steel does, or in fact, the "rust" protects the metal.

[silviubulza]

The reason why only the top of the can was affected is because the top and the body of the can are made from two separate aluminium pieces which are pressed together to form a seal. The way that Gallium works is it first penetrates into the crystalline structure of aluminium and then works its way through it. Because there are 2 separate pieces, most likely separated by the same thin aluminium oxide layer that you had to scratch off initially, the Gallium never managed to transition into the body of the can.

[doughbrie]

There's not necessarily any coating, aluminum gets converted to aluminum oxide rather quickly when exposed to air, which does not react with gallium. You did the right thing scratching it off, you'd do that any time you want to react with straight Al

[dreamescapes]

Aluminum oxidizes quickly in air, forming a strong surface layer of aluminum oxide that prevents the rest of the aluminum from reacting. The sandpaper scratched off this protective layer of aluminum oxide, allowing the aluminum to react with the gallium.

The molecular structures of metals act like a sea of atoms. When you combine a sea of aluminum atoms with a sea of gallium atoms, they mix (like pouring a cup of blue water into red water) and form an alloy. A Gallium-Aluminum also is very weak, so that’s why he was able to poke through the can. But, you can do this with most pure metals and get different alloys of varying strengths.

[SonariNeiracchen]

For viewers that don't know, aluminum makes an oxide later as soon as it can. So yes, the is technically a coatng on the can, but it's simply aluminum that's already reacted with air.

[alenev]

If you cut aluminum into small pieces and dissolve them into liquid Gallium. You need to put the combination to an alkaline solution so the oxidation on the aluminum will dissolve into the alkaline solution and then alloy with gallium. Once done you can put the alloy blob into water.
It will spin and move around water without any external energy. This is because the aluminum in the mixture reacts with water to form aluminum Hydroxide thus propelling the blob.
You can imagine the application for such a reaction.
This was discovered by a Chinese team of scientists.

[dragondreamer]

I do want to point out for your knowledge and everyone else's that the aluminum can is actually made of two parts and are basically crimped together. Both parts are also coated with a special protective layer. In order to make a whole can brittle, you would need to sand the top and the side or bottom, then apply gallum to both sanded areas. Hope this helped ^^

[TUALMASOK]

"Thomas was amazed the gallium had affected Percy to such a degree. In future he would apply more in the hope of ending his misery, once and for all."

[kanyechan]

Time for this to be in everyone’s recommended again.

[ajaaniajaa]

Forward to 2:50 if you don't want your precious time wasted.