Growing Bismuth Crystals

Join us and watch as we experiment with the metal bismuth and try and create beautiful iridescent crystals.

[bdf]

Instead of fishing out crystals as soon as you see them, depress them slightly with the tweezers. Don't fish them out until you feel them touch bottom when you depress them. If you let them grow any more than that you'll just end up with a big gnarly lump

[haloc]

Your commentary was very entertaining, thank you

[bdf]

Adding chunks of bismuth to already molten bismuth is dangerous. Any trace of moisture risks a steam explosion. Heat the chunks first to drive off moisture.

[prevengeix]

aluminum would actually wick away the heat you are trying to retain much faster. the sand was a great idea but if you had an outer container or even a lid covered in a proper thermal barrier(ceramic fiber cloth), it would had much longer to cool down. will give it 8.5 bismuth crystals out of 10

[bombdotcom]

I had no idea this was a thing until a video making these crystals showed up on my recommended. It's crazy!

[bdf]

Rock wool works better than sand. Make sure it can handle the temperature before you buy it.

Alternatively, try heating your sand bed in an oven, first

[BobbyJHeupel]

Never considered I’d hear a reference to cocaine in a public library video.

[WendyAndersonWasHere]

Cocaine? huh??? ...um, cool video though. Thanks!!

[Seehart]

Don't use an aluminum pot for this, unless you are using your friends kitchen.

[paydn]

wish you all the best on your youtube journey man so informative and helpful. you talk like a teacher

[generalgod]

Pree heat sand and make tinfoil lid 80 layers pree heated this should give a big crystalline structure let cool over 14 hours

[thebismuthsmith]

there is SO much Wrong in the video lol

[starchild]

Try using a crucible type structure to slow down the cooling, and try the "seeding" method. Both have turned out good on other videos I have seen.also seen one where someone was blowing pure oxygen on it and made more vibrant colors, deep saturated colors especially the blues. I'm wondering though what other colors would come out if say you were to blow carbon dioxide, or helium on them?! Also I wonder if any would form if you took dry ice and dropped some in the molten bismuth, or poured some liquid nitrogen into the molten bismuth? Would it have any effect of making better crystals, or not? Would it have changed to color palette from what is normally see?

[andrewgibb]

I’m wondering if roxul insulation around and overtop like a lid would work? 🤔

[christhorney]

should have pre heated the sand... otherwise it will suck heat and make it cool faster

[ThePeterDislikeShow]

Do you have any suggestions how to get the bismuth back from all the oxides after multiple cycles of melting?

[ThePeterDislikeShow]

Can you add color by anodizing the bismuth crystal?

[sgt.railgungaming]

Anyone know what he said in the beginning?

[adewilliam]

Is Hillary Clinton still chilling in your area? Just wondering

[fullmetajacket]

lol damn man that was incredibly useless