Platinum-iridium rods in search of a project
July 18, 2010 6:55 AM Subscribe
I have some platinum-iridium rods that are left over from a science lab. Are there any interesting, fun, or useful things that I can do with them?
These rods are .005 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches long, and I have about 50 of them. They were sold by Frederick Haer & Co., to a neuroscience lab which disbanded 30 years ago. They were used for brain research. I believe that they are a 85/15 platinum-iridium alloy. They are so thin and light that the scrap value is negligible.
I am told that platinum-iridium is one of the stiffest materials known, and very dense. The melting point is over 5,000 degrees F. It is extremely corrosion resistant, and dark in color. If I were to attach these bits of wire to a power source, I could use them to carve foam or plastic. I am also told that they will glow underwater, if powered up. Are there any tricks, projects, experiments, or practical uses that I can try?
These rods are .005 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches long, and I have about 50 of them. They were sold by Frederick Haer & Co., to a neuroscience lab which disbanded 30 years ago. They were used for brain research. I believe that they are a 85/15 platinum-iridium alloy. They are so thin and light that the scrap value is negligible.
I am told that platinum-iridium is one of the stiffest materials known, and very dense. The melting point is over 5,000 degrees F. It is extremely corrosion resistant, and dark in color. If I were to attach these bits of wire to a power source, I could use them to carve foam or plastic. I am also told that they will glow underwater, if powered up. Are there any tricks, projects, experiments, or practical uses that I can try?
Offer a free platinum rod to the first fifty people to write and record an original song about you.
posted by box at 8:03 AM on July 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 8:03 AM on July 18, 2010 [3 favorites]
I bet you could have a wicked ring made out of those..Cost of the custom design and fabrication would probably be much more than the value of the metal, though.
posted by d. z. wang at 11:06 AM on July 18, 2010
posted by d. z. wang at 11:06 AM on July 18, 2010
This may not be answering the question, but they are worth a significant amount to someone. Here is the price. Someone wanting to buy your length of wire new would have to pay ~$800. It might be hard to find a buyer, though.
posted by Dmenet at 11:34 AM on July 18, 2010
posted by Dmenet at 11:34 AM on July 18, 2010
My first and foremost concern is safety. Do you now how on the Simpsons, or in other popular culture describes radioactive material as glowing green? Well, this effect is far more noticeable in water. You said they glow blue in water; if this is so, they are demonstrating a principle known as Cherenkov (pronounced SHCREN-kov) radiation. In this case, the iridium is radiating away particles ( electrons in the case of Beta Decay, Helium with two neutrons - Alpha Particles, in the case of Alpha Decay) and they are speeding along in a medium (in this case water) *faster than the speed of light* in that medium (keeping in mind light slows down slightly in water, glass, plastic or even very slightly in air). You can then think of it as something like an optical boom, analogous to a sonic boom when an object exceeds the speed of sound. If you can see the glow, the emission is rather intense, and as it glows blue, there is almost certainly some UV and X-Ray emission, which certainly have the energy to damage human DNA. The most easily damaged part of the human body are the gonads (both testicles and ovaries), which is why during an xray technicians give you a thin lead shield. UV radiation is absorbed on the surface of the skin and can cause melanoma over prolonged exposure.
I would strongly caution you to handle it with extreme care and not leave it laying around in your home.
As far as uses, the only good one I can think of is an an electrode tip because it won't melt streaming a current across a gap. What do you do with that? Make an old-school vacuum tube like they had in old radios and TVs, but why would you want to?
You could also set up such a diode in water, to separate oxygen from hydrogen to make your own fuel for a hydrogen car. I have a friend of a friend try this, and had it installed in the car. Unfortunately it didn't produce enough/wasn't efficient enough because he couldn't keep the water cool enough via refrigeration. I strongly suspect he was limited by the Second Law of Thermodynamics and could not produce more energy via hydrogen than he had to put in via electricity.
I wouldn't make jewelry or just sell it to terrorists or anything; the former isn't safe, and even if you did want to do the latter (I wouldn't, I don't think it is as radioactive enough to make an explosive device. Here are som cool pics of the blue glow:
posted by physicsphil at 12:34 PM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I would strongly caution you to handle it with extreme care and not leave it laying around in your home.
As far as uses, the only good one I can think of is an an electrode tip because it won't melt streaming a current across a gap. What do you do with that? Make an old-school vacuum tube like they had in old radios and TVs, but why would you want to?
You could also set up such a diode in water, to separate oxygen from hydrogen to make your own fuel for a hydrogen car. I have a friend of a friend try this, and had it installed in the car. Unfortunately it didn't produce enough/wasn't efficient enough because he couldn't keep the water cool enough via refrigeration. I strongly suspect he was limited by the Second Law of Thermodynamics and could not produce more energy via hydrogen than he had to put in via electricity.
I wouldn't make jewelry or just sell it to terrorists or anything; the former isn't safe, and even if you did want to do the latter (I wouldn't, I don't think it is as radioactive enough to make an explosive device. Here are som cool pics of the blue glow:
posted by physicsphil at 12:34 PM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
The link didn't pop up correctly, but if you type "cherenkov radiation" into Google and look at the 4th link down, it's a bunch of images.
posted by physicsphil at 12:36 PM on July 18, 2010
posted by physicsphil at 12:36 PM on July 18, 2010
physicsphil: I think he's just talking about the normal old thermal glow ("…if powered up" he says, right after talking about using them as a hot wire cutter). The likelihood that he unknowingly has some old radiotherapy wires (iridium-192?) that somehow escaped any and all attempts at labeling or controls on radioactive materials seems … remote.
posted by hattifattener at 1:01 PM on July 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by hattifattener at 1:01 PM on July 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. No, these are "cold" rods. Nothing radioactive about them. I suppose that they could be used for jewelry, or toothpicks, but they are very stiff. I expect that they would poke through the skin too easily.
I should note that these types of wires were used to poke into brains. You would hardly feel it as they slip on in...
posted by Midnight Skulker at 5:53 PM on July 18, 2010
I should note that these types of wires were used to poke into brains. You would hardly feel it as they slip on in...
posted by Midnight Skulker at 5:53 PM on July 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sibilatorix at 7:40 AM on July 18, 2010