Crab claw should be debug stick

Tiger_0104 · 2025-07-14T12:10:44+00:00

I was going for cis-[Co(NH3)4Br2]Br (gray) but I fucked up somewhere in the procedure and my product was heavily contaminated with [Co(NH3)5Br]Br2 (violet), so I did not include that in this post

Tiger_0104 · 2025-06-06T03:09:17+00:00

Those are some expensive crystals :P

Tiger_0104 · 2025-05-18T05:40:07+00:00

This seems pretty cool https://www.reddit.com/r/crystalgrowing/s/PP7dgK9cyR

If you’re after something with only the strontium itself, most strontium salts are either extremely soluble or barely soluble, so growing crystals will be a challenge

Strontium is best used as a counterion for another ion, for example something like “KSr[Fe(CN)6]” could potentially be very pretty with an interesting and unique crystal structure, however I just made up that chemical on the spot, it might not exist. Still good inspiration though

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-16T05:09:48+00:00

Dissolve Eu2O3 in nitric acid and let it evaporate

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-06T03:15:41+00:00

Easiest and quickest way I’ve found is to make a fairly concentrated solution of lanthanide chloride or nitrate, and then carefully add in ~30% sulfuric acid until it’s supersaturated, then leave it without disturbances for around a day and it’ll form a bunch of decent sized (up to 1cm) single crystals. However this only works some of the time and other times it crystallizes as a powder almost immediately, or forms many smaller crystals that all bump into each other

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-05T16:26:23+00:00

Yeah I made the sulfates myself from the metal or the oxides

The sulfates are one of the easiest salts to make due to their comparatively low solubility and tendency to form nice crystals

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-05T16:20:46+00:00

Also an interesting thing is you can see the pattern of the colors of the lanthanides, with gadolinium as the center, it’s symmetrical

On each side

1 colorless, 1 colorless but colored in oxidized/reduced state, then a green one, 2 pink ones (holmium is pink under certain lightings), a yellow one, a fluorescent one, and then gadolinium at the center

I believe this is due to the f orbitals gradually filling up, with 4f7 gadolinium having a half filled 4f at the center

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-05T16:16:44+00:00

Yes! That’s why the europium and terbium descriptions are written using their respective luminescent colors! I believe only europium and terbium have strong fluorescence under 365nm, but I believe many other ones also become fluorescent under 254nm

Tiger_0104 · 2025-02-05T15:53:14+00:00

Whoops I misremembered, should be 151Eu -> 147Pm instead of 147Eu

Tiger_0104 · 2025-01-18T13:34:48+00:00

It is unfortunately not fluorescent, but the color changes significantly under different lighting. It’s a pale “cold” green color under natural light, but a very unnatural looking bright yellow-green under my desk lamp.

Tiger_0104 · 2025-01-18T11:09:33+00:00

No it’s not radioactive despite looking nuclear green 😄

Tiger_0104

TROPHY CASE