Element Collection

Element Collection

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Gulf Coast Makercon 2014

I'm very excited to announce that I will be participating in the Gulf Coast MakerCon on April 5-6, in Tampa FL! This event is similar (but not affilliated with) the Maker Faire in California, and is made up of people that make or do interesting things. There's a huge variety of participants - 3D printing, robotics, custom jewelry, cosplay, tabletop gaming, and much more - so you're bound to find something that interests you! The MakerCon folks featured me in one of their Meet the Maker segments as well.

I will be hosting a booth featuring my Element Display, which is now nearly fully stocked with samples! I only have about 13 left to collect. I will also have an outdoor area where I will be performing live chemistry demonstrations every few hours, including exciting experiments like thermite reactions. I haven't finalized my list of demos, but I'm leaning towards 3 per show, with the theme of wresting elements from their compounds.

If you are in the area, I definitely recommend you try coming to this event. It promises to be very educational, exciting, and lots of fun! Come visit my booth and say hi!

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations. Sounds fantastic. You have inspired me with your blogs and videos. (My element collection is just beginning.) Now you can inspire some others.
    J.

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    1. That's great! Thanks so much for the support. It really keeps me motivated and excited about sharing what I do. I'll be posting a recap of the show afterwards, and will hopefully be able to record some video of my presentations. Good luck with your collection!

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  2. Hey, I gotta ask...
    What kind of sample do you have for fluorine? I noticed you did have something in your element display but I can't imagine that you managed to fill an ampoule with elemental fluorine.
    For several elements in my own display I intend to use gas discharge tubes. But I think fluorine will present the same problems in a discharge tube as it would in an ampoule. Is there a way of showing the characteristic spectrum of fluorine without having it in elemental form? Just wondering.
    J.

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    1. My sample is Teflon, which is 76% fluorine by weight! That's about the best you can do, because you're right that fluorine is nearly impossible to store in a transparent container. I say nearly because there is one guy that, amazingly enough, figured it out. See Theodore Gray's awesome website on his periodic table display: http://theodoregray.com/periodictable/Elements/009/index.s7.html
      Scroll down to "Real visible fluorine" - pretty crazy!

      As for showing the spectrum, I suppose you could burn a fluoride compound as in a flame test. I wouldn't advise messing with fluorine too much though!

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    2. Interesting you should mention Theodore Gray. i was lent a book of his the other day and just finished perusing it 0 Experiments you can (and probably shouldn't) do at home.

      Good idea on the teflon, but I would love to improve on it if I can. HF has a higher proportion of fluorine but is boring to look at and has most of the same storage issues. I would like to avoid compounds where possible and really highlight the features of the elements. I have seen two element displays that have used quartz ampoules that realistically lasted in the order of months. I have also come across the one you mention that is estimated to be viable for years. Frankly it sounds fiddly and technical and beyond my ability with the equipment I have access to. I have also heard of a couple of collection that have used calcium fluoride, but I think they miss the point of an element collection.

      My idea was to coat the inside of a gas discharge tube with a fluoride compound that would fluoresce with a spectrum close to that of elemental fluorine. Probably low priority at this point but worth asking the question and beginning research. Doable you think? Or is this a dead end?
      J.

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