What Happened:
Today we made bismuth a little differently. We used the blowtorch to melt the bismuth, but this time, when we let it cool, we put the end of a scoopula into the bismuth so that a crystal could form around it. After that we tried different cooling methods so we could get different colors. The first method we tried was just the regular cooling method where we just flip the pot over and let it cool. We got a lot of crystals that were blue, gold, and purple. The second method we used was with helium. We put a big beaker upside down on a table and filled it with helium. After that, we took the crystal straight from the hot plate, into the beaker. The color we got was a mix of pink, purple, and gold. The last method (my favorite) is when we took the crystal and put it in water. It made a really cool silver mixed with gold color. It was one of my favorites.
What's the Science:
When we used the different coloring methods, we just really controlled how much oxygen was exposed to the crystal.So when we just let it cool in the pot, it was not completely exposed to that much oxygen, but it also was completely cut off, therefore making the crystals mostly all of the colors. When we used helium, it turned a purple color. I'm not really sure how that one worked because helium is a gas. When we used water to color it, it was completely cut off from oxygen, therefore making it a silverish gold color.
Results:
I'm VERY satisfied with my results. I've been working with bismuth since day one, and it's been really frustrating when you have to do something over and over again, so when I finally got good crystals I was very proud of myself. Someone who contributed a lot to this was Andrew L. and Andrew D. They've been really patient and helpful and I'm thankful for there help.
Collaboration:
I've been working with Andrew D. and we've recently been getting help from Andrew L. I'm very appreciative of the help they've provided and the guidance from Andrew L. And it's not much of Andrew L. telling what to do but him giving us options on what we could do. I feel we all contributed equally.
What Next:
On Monday, we will color the crystals with pure oxygen. I'm really excited to make jewelry out of our crystal. I'm also pretty excited for next section. It means new things and new experiments.
Today we made bismuth a little differently. We used the blowtorch to melt the bismuth, but this time, when we let it cool, we put the end of a scoopula into the bismuth so that a crystal could form around it. After that we tried different cooling methods so we could get different colors. The first method we tried was just the regular cooling method where we just flip the pot over and let it cool. We got a lot of crystals that were blue, gold, and purple. The second method we used was with helium. We put a big beaker upside down on a table and filled it with helium. After that, we took the crystal straight from the hot plate, into the beaker. The color we got was a mix of pink, purple, and gold. The last method (my favorite) is when we took the crystal and put it in water. It made a really cool silver mixed with gold color. It was one of my favorites.
What's the Science:
When we used the different coloring methods, we just really controlled how much oxygen was exposed to the crystal.So when we just let it cool in the pot, it was not completely exposed to that much oxygen, but it also was completely cut off, therefore making the crystals mostly all of the colors. When we used helium, it turned a purple color. I'm not really sure how that one worked because helium is a gas. When we used water to color it, it was completely cut off from oxygen, therefore making it a silverish gold color.
Results:
I'm VERY satisfied with my results. I've been working with bismuth since day one, and it's been really frustrating when you have to do something over and over again, so when I finally got good crystals I was very proud of myself. Someone who contributed a lot to this was Andrew L. and Andrew D. They've been really patient and helpful and I'm thankful for there help.
Collaboration:
I've been working with Andrew D. and we've recently been getting help from Andrew L. I'm very appreciative of the help they've provided and the guidance from Andrew L. And it's not much of Andrew L. telling what to do but him giving us options on what we could do. I feel we all contributed equally.
What Next:
On Monday, we will color the crystals with pure oxygen. I'm really excited to make jewelry out of our crystal. I'm also pretty excited for next section. It means new things and new experiments.