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My Tungsten Cube (2019)

thume.ca

281–290 of 336 posts

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#281
This reminds me of the infamous cube of saguaro rib wood from Dwarf Fortress

[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:WOOD:WOOD_TEMPLATE] [STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib wood] [STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib] [PREFIX:NONE] Density was determined experimentally. Contact Uristocrat for a sample if you want to verify this yourself. A 6g (+/- 0.1g) piece of dry Saguaro wood had a volume of approximately 14 cm^3 (+/- 1 cm^3) [SOLID_DENSITY:430] [STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:ECRU]

Source: the 'raws' link on the page http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Saguaro

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i read something about a guy shattering his tungsten wedding band on his wedding night, after deciding that slapping his hands on concrete was how you're supposed to dance. professional advice: don't use an exotic metal for your wedding band. some fire departments can't cut it if your ring finger swells up.

Or you could just not wear rings at all. I'm an EMT and the only trauma injury that gives me the creeps is degloving. Happens e.g. when somebody falls off a ladder and their ring gets caught on a nail on the way down. Don't google it.

Or wear a silicone one. They are cheap to replace and (in theory) will break if they catch on something. I have a couple from SafeRingz[1] (not affiliated), but there are plenty of cheaper ones on Amazon.

[1]: https://www.saferingz.com/

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Melted gold is just as valuable as gold jewelry, since they melt it down anyway when you sell it. It might be worth marginally less than an intact piece of gold bullion that can be resold without processing. Diamonds don't have resale value anyway. They're literally a scam.

One thing I've wondered, exactly how easy would it be to find a gold puddle after a fire anyway? I mean it's not going to vaporize or walk off on its own, but is it just going to be a little solidified glob there to pick up or what?

Yes but it will probably be blackened with soot which will make it hard to find.

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#284
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To save people some time clicking through... A 10mm cube of Iridium weighs ~21.9g. And from this source, costs $9000. From the same source, a single gram is only $275. This means that due to the difficulty in working with this very dense metal, the cost of turning the Iridium into a cube is nearly $3000 (on top of the ~$6000 for the metal itself)!

Osmium would be heavier still (22.59 grams/cc), and a relative bargain at $1275 for the 10mm cube at the same source. Not polished/shiny though.

Osmium is the densest pure metal, but iridium has an almost identical density, i.e. 22.56 for Ir, vs. 22.59 for Os.

The difference is far too small to give you a different feeling when holding a piece of either osmium or iridium.

While osmium and iridium are the densest pure metals, there is a range of composition in the osmium-iridium alloys which has a slightly greater density than both pure osmium and pure iridium.

That happens because the atomic concentration of Os is a little higher than that of Ir while the atomic mass of Ir is a little higher than that of Os.

While increasing the proportion of Ir in an Os-Ir alloy from 0% to 100%, there is a range where the atomic concentration decreases slower than the average atomic mass increases, so the density of the alloy becomes greater than the density of pure osmium.

At higher Ir percentages, the increase in atomic volume overcomes the increase in atomic mass, so the density becomes a little lower than for pure Os.

Unlike pure osmium, an Os-Ir alloy would not be dangerous to handle. Pure osmium is slowly oxidized in air releasing the volatile and extremely dangerous osmium tetraoxide.

In nature, the normal occurrence of both Os and Ir is as nuggets made of Os-Ir alloy, usually also containing ruthenium and very small quantities of rhodium.

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#285

Cool cube and I want one. But a metalworking friend of mine warned against getting a ring made out of tungsten. Apparently a climber had one on and broke his ring finger, and the EMTs couldn't get the ring off because the finger had swollen and they couldn't cut the ring due to the strength of the metal. They ended up having to amputate and re-attach the finger (much longer and it would have had to be amputated anywa…

I bought a tungsten wedding band and will never again. Not because of its hardness but because I dropped it on the floor and it shattered. Apparently tungsten is very brittle and is useless on a hand that does anything. Luckily it was cheap.

As others have mentioned, that band was not made of metallic tungsten, which does not shatter, but of sintered tungsten carbide ceramic, which shatters like any ceramic, even if not as easy as ceramic cookware.

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#286

I have a collection of thin tungsten cylinders if anyone is in the market! Glassblowers use tungsten rods to pierce borosilicate glass. When you get tungsten and a piece of glass hot, you can push the tungsten through the glass fairly easily. Tungsten doesn’t get “wet” and stick to glass at these temperatures (~2000F), unlike other metals we use such as steel or brass. We tend to buy these at the welding store (arc w…

Note that if you're buying welding tungsten as a plaything, avoid the oneswith the red paint on the end - they contain thorium to improve the electrical arc and as such are a bit radioactive, and shouldn't be directly handled for long periods.

I'm a hobbyist tig welder. 1-2% thoriated electrodes emit alpha particles that won't penetrate skin. It's really only a risk if you breath in a lot of the dust created by grinding the tip of the electrode to a point. That said, ceriated, lanthanated and pure tungsten electrodes are widely available.

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#288
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They have the mean tendecy to explode into super sharp pieces when you're not expecting it, so wear goggles. Well, I guess I need to buy a new wedding ring at some point.

i read something about a guy shattering his tungsten wedding band on his wedding night, after deciding that slapping his hands on concrete was how you're supposed to dance. professional advice: don't use an exotic metal for your wedding band. some fire departments can't cut it if your ring finger swells up.

I have heard claims that they are actually safer since if you take a hit, a metal ring could squeeze your finger while a WC ring will shatter instead.

Re: My Tungsten Cube (2019)

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i read something about a guy shattering his tungsten wedding band on his wedding night, after deciding that slapping his hands on concrete was how you're supposed to dance. professional advice: don't use an exotic metal for your wedding band. some fire departments can't cut it if your ring finger swells up.

Or you could just not wear rings at all. I'm an EMT and the only trauma injury that gives me the creeps is degloving. Happens e.g. when somebody falls off a ladder and their ring gets caught on a nail on the way down. Don't google it.

Plus, no need to follow societal conventions when there's no real upside and plenty of downside. I'm sure your partner will still care about you no matter what kind of jewelry you wear.
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