Periodic Table Display

Purity of my elements

1	H	Hydrogen	99.99%
2	He	Helium	99.99%
3	Li	Lithium	99.9%
4	Be	Beryllium	99.9%
5	B	Boron	99.9%
6	C	Carbon	95%
7	N	Nitrogen	99.99%
8	O	Oxygen	99.9%
9	F	Fluorine	68-69%
10	Ne	Neon	95%
11	Na	Sodium	99.9%
12	Mg	Magnesium	99.95%
13	Al	Aluminium	95%
14	Si	Silicon	99.9999%
15	P	Phosphorus	99.9%
16	S	Sulfur	99.5%
17	Cl	Chlorine	Unknown, hopefully high
18	Ar	Argon	90%
19	K	Potassium	99.9%
20	Ca	Calcium	99.9%
21	Sc	Scandium	99.9%
22	Ti	Titanium	99.99%
23	V	Vanadium	99.99%
24	Cr	Chromium	99.99%
25	Mn	Manganese	99.7%
26	Fe	Iron	98%
27	Co	Cobalt
28	Ni	Nickel	99.96%
29	Cu	Copper	99.9%
30	Zn	Zinc	99.999%
31	Ga	Gallium	99.9%
32	Ge	Germanium	99.9%
33	As	Arsenic	99.9%
34	Se	Selenium	99.99%
35	Br	Bromine	99.9%
36	Kr	Krypton	90%
37	Rb	Rubidium	99.99%
38	Sr	Strontium	99.9%
39	Y	Yttrium	99.9%
40	Zr	Zirconium	90%
41	Nb	Niobium	99.99%
42	Mo	Molybdenum	99.999%
43	Tc	Technetium	very low, ~20,000 atoms
44	Ru	Ruthenium	99.9%
45	Rh	Rhodium	plated, very low
46	Pd	Palladium	99.99%
47	Ag	Silver	90%
48	Cd	Cadmium	99.9%
49	In	Indium	99.995%
50	Sn	Tin	99%
51	Sb	Antimony	99.99%
52	Te	Tellurium	99.99%
53	I	Iodine	99.8%
54	Xe	Xenon	95% ?
55	Cs	Cesium	99.99%
56	Ba	Barium	99.6%
57	La	Lanthanum	99.9%
58	Ce	Cerium	99.9%
59	Pr	Praseodymium	99.5%
60	Nd	Neodymium	99.9%
61	Pm	Promethium
62	Sm	Samarium	99.9%
63	Eu	Europium	99.95%
64	Gd	Gadolinium	99.9%
65	Tb	Terbium	99.9%
66	Dy	Dysprosium	99.9%
67	Ho	Holmium	99.9%
68	Er	Erbium	99.9%
69	Tm	Thulium	99.95%
70	Yb	Ytterbium	99.9%
71	Lu	Lutetium	99.9%
72	Hf	Hafnium	99.9%
73	Ta	Tantalum	99.5%
74	W	Tungsten	99%
75	Re	Rhenium	99.95%
76	Os	Osmium	99.95%
77	Ir	Iridium	99.9%
78	Pt	Platinum	plated, very low
79	Au	Gold	99.9%
80	Hg	Mercury	99%
81	Tl	Thallium	99.99%
82	Pb	Lead	80%
83	Bi	Bismuth	99.99%
84	Po	Polonium	0%, all decayed
85	At	Astatine	very very low, ~5 atoms
86	Rn	Radon	very very low
87	Fr	Francium	very very low,
88	Ra	Radium	very very low
89	Ac	Actinium	very very low,
90	Th	Thorium	25-62%, 3g
91	Pa	Protactinium
92	U	Uranium	99%
93	Np	Neptunium	low, 10ng(2023) + 0.3ug*0.156%/year in metal button
94	Pu	Plutonium	probably ~0%
95	Am	Americium	low, 0.3ug in metal button
96	Cm	Curium	none
97	Bk	Berkelium	none
98	Cf	Californium	none
99	Es	Einsteinium	none
100	Fm	Fermium	none
101	Md	Mendelevium	none
102	No	Nobelium	none
103	Lr	Lawrencium	none
104	Rf	Rutherfordium	none
105	Db	Dubnium	none
106	Sg	Seaborgium	none
107	Bh	Bohrium	none
108	Hs	Hassium	none
109	Mt	Meitnerium	none
110	Ds	Darmstadtium	none
111	Rg	Roentgen	none
112	Cn	Copernicium	none
113	Nh	Nihonium	none
114	Fl	Flerovium	none
115	Mc	Moscovium	none
116	Lv	Livermorium	none
117	Ts	Tennessine	none
118	Og	Oganesson	none

---

Sources

Gases

Hydrogen

Can be produced using salt in water and applying DC electricity. But can explode, so i bought high purity ampule for $10.

Helium

helium from balloons is about 70-80%, but can buy a cheap high purity ampule

Oxygen

can buy those caned oxygen canister 95%, but you can get a high purity ampule for ~$10

Chlorine

chlorine is caustic. You can buy high pressure liquid Cl (more visible, green), or Cl in ampule (clear, no visible gas), but they are expensive. I produced using salt in water and applying DC electricity, then stored in ampule and melting glass to seal. (no visible gas)

Florine

Pure florine reacts with almost everything, including glass. Teflon (PFET) is 68-69% florine, and stable.

Radioactive elements

Technetium

Technetium is manufactured for specific medical stuff, but cant be purchased by normal people. It naturally occurs in uranium ore, see below

Polonium

Polonium can be purchased in tiny amounts in Static Eliminators, due to the short half-life, only last a few years. Mine is from 1969 and contains no atoms of plutonium.

Astatine, Promethium, Francium, Actinium, Protactinium, Radon, Polonium, Technetium

These are found in uranium ore in tiny concentrations.

Calculations/Estimations in Uranium Ore

• Average uranium ore is 0.1-18% uranium depending on location. Named mineral specimens purchased will be on the higher side of concentrations. I use 3% to be conservative.

• Pure uraninite mineral is 88% uranium by weight. In the following ratios it is not clear if urainite is pure uraninite or uranium ore made of uraninite. I would assume uraninite(uranium) ore. Differing ratios are from different sources. Concentrations differ by location, and rock to rock. All are estimations
  • Technetium: 200 pg/kg uraninite
    • or 2.5–3.1 × 10⁻¹⁰g/kg in uranium ore
    • My calc: 3g uranium ore = 0.6 pg Technetium
      • (3g ore)(1kg / 1000g)(200 pg Tc / 1 kg ore) = 0.6 pg Tc
  • Promethium: 4 fg/kg uraninite
    • My calc: 3g uranium ore = 7.2M atoms Promethium
      • (3g ore)(1kg / 1000g)(4fg Pm / 1kg ore)(1g / 10^15 fg)(6.022 * 10^23 atoms / mols)(mols Pm / 145 g Pm) = 7.2M atoms
  • Francium: 1/(10¹⁸ uranium atoms) in uraninite
    • My calc: 3g uranium ore = 22,000 atoms
      • 3g(3%U / 100% ore)(1 Fr atom / 10^18 U atoms)(2.5 * 10^23 atoms U / 1g U) = 22,000 Fr atoms
  • Actinium: 0.2mg/tonne uranium ore or 5ng/tonne thorium ore
    • My calc: 3g uranium ore = 6ng actinium
      • 3g(1tonne / 10^6 g)(0.2mg Ac / tonne ore)(10^6 ng / 1 mg) = 0.6 ng
  • Protactinium: 0.3-3 ppm in uraninite
    • 0.1-3ppm in uranium ore
    • My calc: 3g uranium ore = 0.6 μg protactinium
      • 3g(0.3 parts Pa / 10^6 parts ore) = 0.9μg Pa
  • Radon: 0.17 pg/m³ in uranium rich areas
    • My bottle(12cm^2): 2 atto g
    • or 2ag (1g / 10^18 ag)(1 mol / 222 g)(6.022 * 10^23 atoms / mol) = 5000 atoms
  • Polonium: 0.1 mg/tonne in uranium ore
  • Plutonium: is detectable in uranium ore due to spontaneous fusion in tiny, but unknown amounts
  • Neptunium: is detectable in uranium ore due to spontaneous fusion in tiny, but unknown amounts

• • Astatine:8g uranium ore(at 18% uranium content) = 5 astatine atoms on average

References

• https://ataridogdaze.com/science/astatine.html

Americium, Neptunium

These can be found in common smoke detectors. A metal button can be safe removed with some care. 0.2 μg Americium on a metal button. I wouldn't try to remove the tiny element from the button. Americium decays into Neptunium at about 0.156% per year. All smoke detectors are dated so you can calculate the Neptunium content

• smoke detector:
  • new smoke detector is 0.3ug Am, which decays to Np at 0.156%/year
  • Decade old smoke detector is ~0.295ug Am and ~4.6ng Np

Radium

Radium is no longer manufactured, but can be purchased on old radium watch dials for cheap. Depressing history. Dials are radium in zinc paint. When first made, they glowed but no longer glow. You can make them glow with a UV LED. Radium is very radioactive and paint can flake. Be careful.

Uranium

Pure depleted uranium ²³⁵U can actually be bought at a reasonable price, and is fairly safe. Other sources are uranium glass (fairly safe, 1-3%) or uranium ore (less safe, 1% to 80% depending on mineral and purity).

Thorium

Low purity thorium can be found in old gas lantern mantels and thorium welding rods. Higher purity can be found in thorianite mineral. Monazite is also a source

Plutonium

It is illegal to buy or own. But... Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado produced nuclear weapons, and illegally released allot of plutonium. There was a big clean up and the entire area was buried in meters of soil. But wind blew east-ish and contaminated the area outside. It collected some soil that might contain some plutonium.

Curium and beyond

Some of these elements can be purchased if you are a lab with high security clearance. Others have only produced a few atoms in experiments and lasted from hours to milliseconds

Other

Berilium

If you get in powder, be very careful. Is very toxic.

Aluminum

Aluminum wire or common pieces of aluminum are >95%. If you buy in powder form be very careful, is toxic

Copper

Copper wire or common pieces of aluminum are 99.9%.

Iron

Iron in steel is 98-99%

Carbon

carbon in pencils is >95%

Silver

silver in old coins 90%, Typical jewelry(stamped 925) is 92.5%, and not too expensive

Gold

pure but extremely thin foil is cheap, or you can get gold plated for almost nothing, but is microns thick.

Platinum, Rhodium

Can get plated jewelry or beads for cheap but plating is microns thick

---

Displaying

Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon

gasses are clear, but low pressure gasses like light bulbs can create plasma, and different elements are different colors.

• I used low pressure Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen ampules. Neon glow lamp. Argon and krypton flashlight bulbs. Xenon flash bulb from old camera(can also be found in strobe lights, fire alarms).
• I found 20-25kHz at 15kV creates the best visibility. Xenon may needed a bit higher voltage. Oxygen is fairly dim. My hydrogen ampule was larger in size so I needed a higher voltage
• I got cheap high voltage arc generators, and just used the transformers. The modules are very inefficient and get hot.
  • I drove mosfets with a 5V square wave, using op-amps oscillator circuit.
  • Input voltages were 5V for all except, hydrogen 8V and oxygen 6V (see above)
  • I potted the transformers in epoxy to reduce noise and vibration wear.
  • I double insulated all wires with heat shrink tube, tried to keep a space between wires and used polymide/kapton tape everywhere possible
  • more coils around ampules work better.
  • painting the back half black and the wires black makes it easier to see. Also put it on black background.
  • Bulbs need some experiments to get best display

Radium

Glows under UV light so I have a UV LED lighting up the radium watch dials

Rubidium, Cesium

Very reactive. these are sealed in oxygen free vials

Radioactive

• I bought some uranium ores and calculated/estimated the amounts for each element
• I built little open front lead containers to block radiation emitting up/down/left/right.
• I sealed the container's front with clear plastic to block radon escaping.
• I might add a hinged lead cover to block radiation from front

Under Mineral Oil

• Lithium, sodium, strontium, Barium, calcium, Neodymium, Praseodymium
• quickly oxidize so are put in mineral oil

containers

• Small bottles(2.1cm x 4cm) with rubber corks - Gives it a science lab look
• Perfume sample vials - for elements in tiny quantities like osmium, adds viability

Resources

• Theodore Gray - Periodic Table (archived)
• Uranium to Radon Calculations