Science is interesting

Tammerath · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:45 pm

double post my bad

D-vid · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:48 pm

You would need a lot of Gallium. As you can see, only as much surface of Aluminum can be alloyed as there's Gallium for. So that droplet was barely enough to alloy the top of the can.If you wanted to structurally weaken a vehicle enough you'd need to attach it at exactly the right places or have a firetruck full of the stuff to just hose it onto everything.

Tammerath · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:00 pm

D-vid wrote:

You would need a lot of Gallium. As you can see, only as much surface of Aluminum can be alloyed as there's Gallium for. So that droplet was barely enough to alloy the top of the can.If you wanted to structurally weaken a vehicle enough you'd need to attach it at exactly the right places or have a firetruck full of the stuff to just hose it onto everything.

Perhaps it could be used for something like disabling supply trucks or transports. If you manage to spike the engine compartment with a Gallium-laden warhead which would stick in the vehicle and discharge its contents, then have a delayed-reaction explosive charge inserted directly into the weakened compartment, I imagine that it would effectively immobilize the target.

YCobb · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:17 pm

There might also be a gallium compound of some sort that could cover a greater greater with the same effect, maybe?

Tammerath · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:34 pm

What would it take to get Gallium into gaseous form? Would it have the same effects?

D-vid · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:39 pm

2403 °C. That's 4357.4 °F.

Syobon · **Joined:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:34 am **Posts:** 15027

2477 K at atmospheric pressure, which I imagine would speed up the reaction but wouldn't allow it to invade more aluminum per mol obviously.

Edit: Actually perhaps because of the high energy of the gallium atoms I could see them invading aluminium rosters and then disrupting the bonds, freeing them up to invade other bonds again until their kinetic energy is sufficiently depleted that the bonds are stable, but that's just me theory-crafting with a very lacking understanding of these things.