How to replicate liquid metal?

[Howlrunner]

I was wondering if there is any way to replicate liquid metal (like mercury) so that it can be kept in a sealed glass vial and sloshed around?

Think sort of a sample of Mimetic Polyalloy from the T-1000 or the "blood" of one of the shape-shifters from Fringe.

Mercury itself is the best looking and most obvious but given that it is HIGHLY TOXIC I wouldn't even consider that. So is there another way?

The best options I've come across seems to be Gallium or Field's Metal (an alloy made primarily from Gallium) which are non-toxic and non-harmful metal elements that melt to a liquid form at low temperatures (it melts and is liquid in your hand due to simple body temperature). However there are 2 problems with Gallium (and Field's Metal):

1) It's pretty expensive stuff (about £20 per 10g)
2) It sticks to glass and plastic (unlike mercury) - if you had it in a glass vial and sloshed it around, it would permanently coat the inside of the vial forming a mirror and you would no longer be able to see in.

Any other ideas for something that would look realistic in a vial?

 

[PHArchivist]

What about just using Alclad Chrome paint. kept in its liquid form?

 

[ONEYE]

Ask Sky Net.

 

[Kestre]

If it's going to be in a sealed vial, mercury is still an option to consider. It should be safe in a vial, just as thermometers were safe when intact.

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

This reminds me of a glass jar of about 8oz. of liquid mercury that we found at the site I used to work at....an old Dupont site built in the 1940's here in Delaware. It has a bomb shelter...yes bomb(not fallout) shelter with an 18" in thick vault door and accomodations for old Dupont top brass should the end of the world come about. Two generators, food the works....it was a neat site to say th least. Anyhow this mercury was laying around somewhere I can't recall, but it was in a bronze glass jar with a screw on top. It weighed a ton for the size of it! Really neat, but really dangerous in the wrong hands. I remember the old boss/chief engineer was taking appropriate cautions for it to be taken away safely...that's the last I heard of it.

 

[cheech9898]

Sounds like your looking for Galinstan, the silver mercury free substitute in thermometers... unfortunately I have no idea where to get the stuff short of scavaging from thermometers or trying to make your own which is 66.5% galium, 20.5% indium, & 13% tin. I have no idea what the procedure is for making it but it falls under eutectic compounds so it might be as simple as weight the elements out and mixing and it goes from solid to liquid like camphor & menthol do when mixed together.

** edit
forgot to say the vial/container must be coated with gallium oxide to prevent sticking like they do on the inner tube of the thermometer.

 

[renaissance_man]

What about using silver ink, pretty cheap alternative.
http://www.hyperscale.com/images/mig348ds_011.jpg

 

[ShadowX81]

Actually as is the case with most dangers that society has hyped up (asbestos, lead paint, ect), Mercury isnt all that dangerous as long as you arent stupid with it or constantly expose yourself to it. No more dangerous than most other household chemicals atleast.
50 years ago kids used to play with big balls of the stuff and all of them were fine. Hell, I read a news story about an old laberatory that they were renovating and when they pried up the floorboards there was a 3 inch deep pool of it under there from all the thermometers that broke over the years. The scientists had been breathing in the vapors for decades with no health conditions.
But the danger of it is all hyped up and these days people treat a small mercury spill like a nuclear reactor leak. Back in my high school some kid broke an old mercury thermometer and the principal evacuated the school for the day while guys in hazmat suits came to clean up the two drops that got out.

As long as you don't drink the stuff or rub it on open cuts you will be fine.

 

[mtpalin]

When i was in high school the science teacher handed out vials of mercury and let everyone pour it out onto their desks to play with - with bare hands. There were no ill effects at all.

 

[EricHart]

What about metallic paint, or metallic powder mixed with some kind of gel?

Whether you think the harmful effects of mercury are over-hyped or not, it is a toxic substance whose use is regulated under a number of health and environmental agencies. Yes, you can play with it and not have any ill effects; that is because it is a cumulative poison which will cause damage over time through exposure. While you may be keeping it in a sealed container, you still need to fill that container, and that means you'll be releasing vapors into your workspace.

You also need to consider disposal, whether of spills, extra mercury, or even just your prop if you one day want to get rid of it. You can't just dump it down the drain or throw it in the trash.

I always try to use the least-toxic alternative in my prop-making, because I'm already exposing myself to thousands of toxic chemicals a day.

 

[ShadowX81]

Actually yea, you could just dump it down the drain or throw it out.

And when you are filling the jar, just make sure to have a window open.

In the end, Mercury really is the best way to get the T-1000 look of a flat and smooth liquid metal. It was even used for the T-1000 in the scene where it melts after freezing in the climax. All of the other alternatives have that uneven and non-reflective grainy appearance.
You can buy it at many science or chemical supply stores online.

 

[Pilot]

Actually yea, you could just dump it down the drain or throw it out.

No, nobody should ever do either one of these things.

 

[ShadowX81]

And why not? Unless you are dumping a huge amount it is fine. And since the OP only wants a vial, it is a small enough quantity to be safe to just dump.

But even if you want an alternative, there are sites where you can turn that stuff in for free.

 

[Pilot]

Becaue it's an environmental hazard? Because it contaminates water supplies?

There's a reason those collection centers exist.

 

[ShadowX81]

And if everyone were regularly dumping vials of the stuff down the drain that might be a legitimate point. But since everyone treats the stuff like it is radioactive it isn't a real problem. One vial is going to make zero difference.

 

[Pilot]

But since everyone treats the stuff like it is radioactive it isn't a real problem.

Read this again, and then tell me why you're completely wrong.

 

[EricHart]

It's not so much the mercury that is dangerous, it is a cavalier attitude towards your own health and safety which is dangerous. If you're willing to dump mercury down the drain and merely opening a window when working on it, it makes me wonder what else you are dumping down the drain, or which safety precautions you are ignoring. Prop-making deals with a large number of hazardous chemicals: resins, epoxies, solvents, silicone, formaldehyde. Even sawdust is considered a carcinogen. And if you think the dangers are overhyped, consider that of the 55 million chemicals used in industry and commerce, only about 900 have been tested for carcinogenic properties.
The danger is not that one vial. The danger is that kind of thinking: you think "oh, it's just one vial of mercury" today, and tomorrow you think "oh, it's just a few drops of epoxy on my skin", and the next day you think "oh, it's just a few pieces of MDF I need to cut," and after a few years, you realize you've been exposed to hundreds of hazardous chemicals with no proper protective gear.

 

[Onkelpsycho]

It has to be real metal?!? Or just lookalike?!? It has to be liquid?!?

Chromecolour would do, or if it can be solid how is solder?!?

 

[Pilot]

Thanks Eric, that's exactly the point I was moving towards, probably a bit too slowly on my part.

 

[dropshipbob]

What would vegetable oil do to enamel paint?

I've seen "sculptures" that have a water based liquid floating in vegetable oil. One repels the other, causing it to pool and collect unto itself. Maybe you could get some silver acrylic paint and pour it into some veg oil and see if that gets the effect you seek?

I'd suggest silver enamel as it has that liquid metal look, but I don't know how it will react with veg oil.