The Metal That Melts in Your Hand

Hey! Hey! Thanks for dropping by today. Wonderful to see you as always. Coffee's just perked and there's a tray full of delectable virtual treats awaiting your pleasure. Say... remember those liquid metal Terminators from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies?

What if I told you that that  kind of material isn’t just the fruit of someone’s sci-fi imagination, but a real metal? It’s called Gallium and it has some pretty cool properties.

So what makes gallium so special? Well, first of all, the brittle metal has a melting point of just  29.76 °C (85.57 °F), so if you hold it in your hand long enough it will become liquid.

That alone is pretty cool, but this rare metal has a few other amazing properties. For example, it “attacks” other metals, like aluminum. For example, just a drop of liquid gallium weakens the structure of a Coke can to the point where it can be pierced with the slight press of the thumb. Gallium infiltrates the aluminum structure, compromising its integrity and making the can feel like tin foil instead of metal.

Another interesting experiment involving gallium is called the “beating heart”, in which the amazing element is made to look like an alien life form. When submerged in sulfuric acid and a dichromate solution, gallium looks like an organic beating heart, due to the gallium sulfate which increases surface tension.

Remember the old joke about the guy who claimed to have invented a substance that could eat it's way through anything and his friend said, "Fine but...what are you going to keep it in?" Well this is coming pretty close.

There have to be some very interesting things one could do with Gallium, eh? I'm going to get my research assistant on it toute de suite (that's French for 'faster than 30-second Exlax!').

See ya, eh!

Bob