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Why does Gallium "melt" Aluminum?
- Why does Gallium "melt" Aluminum?
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Why does Gallium "melt" Aluminum?
haomeialu > 02-08-2018, 07:58 AM
s seen in the phase diagram below, Aluminum has a huge solubitiy in Galium in the ambient temperature. What you mentioned as "eat Aluminum" is nothing more than the Aluminum being dissolved into the liquid Galium.
A cool experiment that you can make is dissolve a aluminum foil into liquid Gallium completely, than add water on top.
The oxigen on H2O will oxidize the dissolved Aluminum and release H2 (you can carefully set fire to prove it)... what remains later is liquid gallium and water with Al2O3 particles.
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RE: Why does Gallium "melt" Aluminum?
aluhm > 02-08-2018, 07:59 AM
Gallium doesn't "melt" aluminum, it amalgamates it much as mercury amalgamates with gold or silver. Aluminum is a soft metal and mercury readily amalgamates with it and as gallium is also a liquid metal it undoubtedly penetrates the crystal structure dissolving the aluminum, too. Gallium has the unusual property, unlike mercury, of being able to penetrate the oxide film on aluminum and so attacks it much more readily. The result is an alloy of gallium and aluminum. There are several videos on YouTube demonstrating this action