Bismuth - A METAL To GROW CRYSTALS.

So in this video I’ll talk about a very interesting metal - bismuth. Bismuth is a heavy metal and in the periodic table of chemical elements is located next to the Lead.
Bismuth is a shiny and very brittle metal. I bought bismuth in these sticks which are very easy to break if you slightly hit them with a hammer.
The breaking point shows that bismuth rod has a very clear crystal structure. Now I will melt it to show you one interesting property of bismuth.
Bismuth’s melting point is 271 degrees Celsius, so it can even be melted on a hot plate. And unlike lead, bismuth is not toxic.
Bismuth’s surprising property is that it starts to form beautiful crystals during solidification. The size and shape of the crystals will be dependent on the solidification rate, as well as the presence of impurities.
My bismuth’s purity is only 97.2%, so turning it into large crystals will be problematic. Once bismuth is melted, I turn the hot plate off and wait until the bismuth will gradually harden.
Bismuth’s solidification rate can be reduced by heating in a sand bath or by using a thick-walled container. The slower the cooling, the higher and more beautiful crystals will be obtained.
Furthermore, you need to make sure to remove the cover from the crystals in time, which is formed on the top of solidifying metal. At some point later, around the time when a third of bismuth is crystallised you would need to drain the liquid metal to expose the beautiful crystals.
To avoid burns and injuries, do not repeat this experiment!
If this was a pure bismuth, the hot crystals on air would have begun to cover with a beautiful oxide film.
However, my bismuth has a lot of lead impurities and on air the film of oxides does not form. To make the crystals colorful I'll apply a current of pure oxygen on our hot crystals.
I get the oxygen from the decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide. When bismuth contacts pure hot oxygen, it is covered with colored patterns caused by the oxide film on the metal surface.
Once the cup with crystals is cooled, those can be removed. The crystals obtained are not very big, however with a beautiful oxide film.
I made several attempts to grow larger crystals, but every time I got only polycrystalline aggregates of small bismuth crystals.
I think the problem is in the impurities. As it is known, the purer the material, the more beautiful and larger the crystals are obtained.
Bismuth and its compounds have many uses.
It is used as a component of some alloys, aldo bismuth oxide is used in organic synthesis and in medicine as a remedy for gastrointestinal diseases, other bismuth compounds are used in nuclear power engineering, electrical engineering as well as for the creation of magnetic materials and superconductors.
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[godfreypoon]

Those are not crystals, they are the apartment blocks that the Bismuthians live in.

[bonniehaller]

I always think of bismuth crystals when people tell me there are no 90 degree angles in nature.

[wascawywabbit]

"This man's bismuth is everybody's bismuth." - Mike Tyson.

[HighlanderNorth]

You can easily get high purity bismuth in small quantities from Rotometals. They have 99.99% pure bismuth. It comes in chunks that are broken off of a larger slab. I bought 1lb of this bismuth several years ago, from another source, but I'm pretty sure they got it from Rotometals. Rotometals sells on Amazon and on their own site, but I'll point out that when I was shopping for gallium and indium a few months ago, I found a sale from Rotometals on Amazon, and they had a significantly better price for 100g at Amazon than on their own website at that time. So it's probably best to look on Amazon and maybe even ebay for rotometals' sales, just to make sure you get the best deal. Or call/email someone at Rotometals to see if they will match their own Amazon sale price if you buy direct.

[trulyinfamous]

I love the square shape of the crystals.

[RWilsonPagarigan]

*"Then you really are better than her..."*

[dman]

I WANT TO SLEEP ON A BED MADE OF YOUR ACCENT

[ruchiramukherjee]

I love learning about various elements from this channel.

[alta]

Poor Bismuth, it's surrounded by dangerous elements. (Polonium, and Lead)

[demented]

Loved the cat!!
Now I like even more your channel.

[timscoviac]

From certain sources I hear bismuth is as rare as silver but I believe it’s not considered a precious metal because of its properties, precious metals aren’t precious solely because of being rare compared to common metals extraction rates, but also because there amazing properties. Precious metals are highly resistant to corrosion even when heated to melting points, bismuth is resistant to corrosion in air and water but easily corrodes when heated, the corrosion is the many colors it produces. Also it’s very brittle. Gold is soft and malleable but it’s not brittle and easily breakable, also gold never corrodes outside laboratory conditions, in air or heated

[HealingNews]

Phenomenal series - learned more from Thoisoi about metal elements than over 60 years of education.

They look like components for some mythical supercomputer. A machine that dispels the mysteries of the Universe.

[Vedrajrm]

thank you for such amazing videos...
I'm a chemical engineering student(sorta)
most of the materials I study about...I haven't seen them in action...
so thank you for such educational and Amazing videos

[maxmclain]

Good thing about this is if you fuck up you can just melt it again and start over

[danielalon]

Like Water, Bismuth also expands when it freezes. I saw that in the video.

[aniketsahay]

It's hard to imagine that a difference of 1 electron, 1 proton and 1 neutron can change a boring looking metal Lead to such a cool, colorful and geometrically intriguing Bismuth.

[petesampson]

... and unlike lead, bismuth is non toxic.
... my bismuth contains many lead impurities.

I luv this guy!

[LMG]

So this is the metal thar metalheads must love?

[Xeno_Bardock]

There is a possible experiment one can do with bismuth by creating nanoparticle bismuth filings and use it to show radial electric field lines surrounding the wire, much like how iron filings are used to show circular magnetic field lines surrounding the wire.