I know I can buy hydrogen and helium and mercury and lead, but what about more exotic elements? Can I get my hands on a few ounces of, say, praesodymium (59) or disprosium (66)? What about berkelium (97) or, say, einsteinium (99)?
This is for my 11-year-old’s science project. His teacher wants him to display a small sample of every element on the periodic table, but I’m starting to wonder whether this is practical.
Most of the “exotic” elements are too expensive, radioactive, short lived(microsecond half lives) or in VERY( as in micrograms) small supply to be displayed.
I’m not an expert in this though I’m sure one will be along to fill in the(gaping) gaps.
ETA: Any teacher who thinks an 11 year old can obtain samples of the entire table shouldn’t be teaching the subject.
Check out http://elementsales.com/ to buy samples of elements. Praesodymium, disprosium - no problem, though they don’t seem to stock einsteinium which only has a half life of 471 days.
Theodore Gray has constructed a physical periodic table, but I would wager it took him many years and no small cost. I would also assume that some of the more exotic, expensive and radioactive elements would be… impractical for the average 11-year-old to obtain.
Perhaps he could provide small samples of materials whose compounds contain each of the elements?
Every element? Really? :dubious:
Good luck getting technetium (43), plutonium (94), or meitnerium (109).
Hey you can get a 76 piece set that covers most of the stable compounds for a mere $685. Perfect for the typical grade school science project!
I agree that the teacher appears to be a moron expecting that obtaining all these materials is remotely reasonable. On top of that, the vast majority look remarkably similar to each other and probably shouldn’t be handled, so what is the point?
Have you talked to the teacher directly, or just to your son? This sounds like a lost in translation issue. Even a totally clueless teacher wouldn’t expect that from an 11 year old. Maybe it’s something like a model of the element, or a description.
Or Ununoctium
From the link.
Yeah, that sounds kind of unlikely. Even the relatively easy elements to get, like sodium, are expensive and dangerous. She surely doesn’t expect him to come up with mercury, which isn’t even allowed in most high school labs any more. Maybe she meant images?
What the hell…
I’ll sell you a complete collection for $500*.
obo*
**may not consist of actual elements
Every element? Good luck with the francium! I’m with everyone else in saying this is an impossible task.
Yes, even the non-radioactives can be pretty dangerous in elemental form, like fluorine (9).
The gimmick that “all naturally occurring elements” collections use for astatine and francium is to provide a small piece of pitchblende or other radioactive ore, and observe that at any given moment there are some astatine and francium atoms present in it.
Subscribing. I want to see if the OP clarifies the teacher’s instructions. This is interesting.
Did you see those great posters of the elements? that will knock off at least 5 christmas presents that I can think of offhand <squeee>
My sister had to do this. Of course you can’t get every element, and most of them you won’t get in pure form. My sister was cool for having a sample of uranium ore. Mostly, I’m pretty sure you are supposed to get them from every day objects. You definitely aren’t supposed to go out and buy a $700 element set then let the kid turn it in as his/her own work. There are radioactive elements you could get from every day objects, but I will stop short of recommending it. They are dangerous. We don’t need another nuclear boyscout.
In the end, you will have a largely unfilled periodic table with more compounds than elements just like everyone else.
Some chemical companies like Alfa Aesar specialize in pure elements. Not long ago I bought nickel, silver, rhodium, tantalum, gadolinium, and gold from them, as small rods or plates or foils. It’s amazing anybody can roll a foil out of brittle rhodium, but then I don’t know much about it. They noted the rhodium foil might not be free of pinholes - fair 'nuff.
I also have strontium and promethium on hand, and a couple years ago got injected with Tc-99 for a Thallium stress test. For some reason, the element that makes a Thallium stress test work is Technecium, and they don’t use any Thallium. Ah, well, while I was waiting to do the test I read a poster that talked about the “loss of a bone” and had a picture of a femur on it. I asked them about it, remarking that while “loss of bone”, that is a diminishment of the amount of bone material, is common, it is very unusual to lose the bones themselves, especially without a lot of help. They alleged to have never read the poster. Medicine is a mysterious field.
Maybe it’s a trick question. Did the teacher specify that the samples must be distinct and have a minimum size? Maybe his point is that you can find a few random atoms of most elements in something like a pail of water.
How is the teacher going to verify that the element is real anyway?
Good luck finding Unobtainium.