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Home Grown Crystals
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Cesar M. Salvan
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PostPosted: Jan 15, 2014 21:25    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Hi Mark,

Indeed to obtain silver metal is very easy, but I still can not obtain crystals, only dendrites or tree-like growths, that, senso stricto are crystals, but with a particular growing pattern. In principle, a good designed electrochemical cell should work in the home growth of nice silver crystals.

The bismuth is easy to crystallize. And its low melting point allow the crystallization at "kitchen level". A furnace is the ideal tool, not for temperature, but for control: growing good developed crystals requires room and a slow drop in temperature in the vicinity of melting point. After some trial and error, is possible to obtain beautiful centimeter size crystals using a cooking pot. Is not necessary to use high purity bismuth. The cheapest "technical" grade works fine.



plata2.jpg
 Description:
Silver
Home grown
Silver dendrites obtained by electrochemical grown
 Viewed:  28310 Time(s)

plata2.jpg



2013-01-16 bismuto 001.jpg
 Description:
Bismuth
home grown
Is very easy to obtain this kind of Bi crystals, by cooling the molten metal. Just, melt the bismuth in a pot and left to cool slowly. When a solid layer begin to form on the surface, pour out the molten metal. The pot will be covered by beautiful crystals.
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2013-01-16 bismuto 001.jpg


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Mark Beregszaszi




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PostPosted: Jan 15, 2014 21:46    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Thanks Cesar :)

I will try to obtain some bismuth and try to grow some crystals of them
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cascaillou




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PostPosted: Jan 18, 2014 12:52    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Did you hear of the curse of Tutankhaillou?
That's me being burried with a necklace around my neck consisting of a beautiful cut green stone set in beryllium metal, the stone being a synthetic uranium-beryllium silicate.
Anyone daring tomb-raiding me in the next centuries will be neutron-cursed, and there start the legend, mouhahahahaha!

Time for my pills...
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trtlman




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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 14:16    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

At what temperature does bismuth melt and where can obtain some?
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Turbo




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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 14:21    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Modern lead-free fishing sinkers are alloys of tin and bismuth. They melt under a flame.
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trtlman




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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 14:25    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Turbo wrote:
Modern lead-free fishing sinkers are alloys of tin and bismuth. They melt under a flame.

I had no idea these came in lead free, good to know but how would I know if mine are leadfree or not? I have a bunch of sinkers. Would they also melt on a stovetop? I could easily obtain an old pot to melt them in. I can't wait to start melting some sinkers, thanks for that tip.

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Mark Beregszaszi




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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 14:30    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

So if I take some lead-free fishing sinkers, put them in ccHCl, then the tin will dissolve and the bismuth will remain, right?
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 14:33    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

The lead-free ones tend to be brighter and shinier and they do not tarnish as dark as lead. Not sure if a stovetop would work well. I recommend working in a ventilated area just in case.
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 17:08    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

After a google search stove top will melt bismuth, slowly but surely.
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 17:16    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

I assume home grown silver is not real silver, otherwise people would grow their own silver instead of buying it.
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Cesar M. Salvan
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 17:46    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Trtlman, you're kidding, right?

Some more home grown crystals. This crystals have been developed using the technique of gel crystallization. Is very useful to study the role of impurities, for example, in habit or crystal growth. The slow evaporation or cooling of saturated solutions are only two methods for "home" crystal growth. There are some strategies, including those for the growth of crystals of the less soluble salts.



yeso sintetico 2 web.jpg
 Description:
Gypsum
home grown
FOV 0.5 cm
Home grown gypsum. Note the twinning
 Viewed:  27957 Time(s)

yeso sintetico 2 web.jpg



yeso sintetico3.jpg
 Description:
Gypsum
Home grown
1 cm group
 Viewed:  27947 Time(s)

yeso sintetico3.jpg



calcita sintetica 2.jpg
 Description:
Calcite
home grown
2 mm crystal
A calcite rhombohedron grown using silica gel crystallization.
 Viewed:  28057 Time(s)

calcita sintetica 2.jpg


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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 18:33    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

"I assume home grown silver is not real silver, otherwise people would grow their own silver instead of buying it. "

Daniel that is a really touchy subject you are poking into now.
I am not supposed to tell you this...but...
Home-grown silver is real silver...
But very very few know about this. Very few know that you can actually grow silver at home...
This is a secret only the initiates of the Guild of the Ancient Alchemists know about!
This is why just a very few people grow silver at home. The ancient method is passed down through the generations in great secrecy.
If everyone knew about this, then people would start mass producing silver at home, the price of this precious metal would drop fastly and global market would crush. That is something we would not want to happen.
I hope I will not be expelled from the Guild for telling you this, so please keep this a secret, alright?



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This is the sacred symbol of our Guild
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GotAA.JPG


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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 18:33    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

I figured it was real silver but knowing nothing on chemistry always wondered if it was the same as pure silver. About an hour of searching online I found out it is but the ingredients cost more than the silver, lol. I have never taken a chemistry lesson in my life so I am still uneducated in that subject. The acetate needles are cool and look like a fun project.
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 18:35    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Sorry Jordi, I could not resist...
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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 18:37    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Mark Beregszaszi wrote:
Sorry Jordi, I could not resist...


I was kinda asking for that, lol

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PostPosted: Jan 20, 2014 18:45    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

trtlman wrote:
Mark Beregszaszi wrote:
Sorry Jordi, I could not resist...


I was kinda asking for that, lol

;)
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PostPosted: Jan 21, 2014 01:34    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

trtlman wrote:
I assume home grown silver is not real silver, otherwise people would grow their own silver instead of buying it.


Daniel, you have a delicate sense of humor!:-)

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PostPosted: Jan 21, 2014 11:35    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

Three decades ago I collected several pounds of NATRON powder from the dry bed of a small pond in Wyoming. This hydrated sodium carbonate is available in markets as "washing soda". It is readily soluble in hot water and precipitates as a variety of large crystals overnight. The crystals were in at least two different forms - perhaps different hydrates ???
Unfortunately these manmade crystals begin to dehydrate almost immediately after being removed from the solute, and become more delicate. Fortunately, the resulting pile of white powder may be reused repeatedly to explore creating more crystals under differing conditions. I did preserve one two inch long stubby crystal by sealing it with paraffin inside a large "Perky" plastic box.
The small lake bed did yield several natron crystal pseudomorphs that have remained intact.
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Riccardo Modanesi




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PostPosted: Jan 21, 2014 13:19    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

trtlman wrote:
I figured it was real silver but knowing nothing on chemistry always wondered if it was the same as pure silver. About an hour of searching online I found out it is but the ingredients cost more than the silver, lol. I have never taken a chemistry lesson in my life so I am still uneducated in that subject. The acetate needles are cool and look like a fun project.


Hi to everybody!
First of all: congratulations for having growth all those beautiful crystals in your home. Then: growing silver? It IS possible: if you put a copper wire into a silver nitrate soltions, you will see the silver crystals growing on the wire itself! The issue is stabilizing the crystals. Maybe by drying the solution naturally without forcing its drying!
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

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Hi! I'm a collector of minerals since 1973 and a gemmologist. On Summer I always visit mines and quarries all over Europe looking for minerals! Ok, there is time to tell you much much more! Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.
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PostPosted: Jan 21, 2014 14:26    Post subject: Re: Home Grown Crystals  

kakov wrote:
Even though we probably can not reproduce any of these in the kitchen at home, this is overwhelmingly cool stuff, it is a sublime pleasure to watch. Thanks a lot Cesar for sharing these aspects of your work with us!


A lot of different crystals can be grown with ease from your kitchen.

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