Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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THE PERIODIC TABLE — I was never a particularly sciencey kid.
When I had birthdays, my grandma would take me down the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us, and I would pick out two or three art kits that taught me how to fold origami, make friendship bracelets or mold tiny dyed wax beads into candles. Crafting was infinitely more interesting to me than the plastic equipment that promised technicolored mixtures oozing out of beakers or foaming volcanoes.
If I had known about gallium, however, I may have been more interested in science as a kid.
On his addictive channel, DaveHax — a Brit who narrates science/hack videos — played with gallium, a metal that’s solid at room temperature, but liquefies at approximately 30 degrees Celsius or 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
It looks a lot like mercury, minus all of the icky side effects like madness and poisoning yourself to death.
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Watch DaveHax play with the gallium in his charming video, and think of all the cool things you could make and watch melt. For all those parents who are now contemplating how they’re supposed to occupy the kiddos for three months of summer, I think I found your new best friend.
This YouTube channel also fills that biscuit-shaped hole in my heart that “The Great British Baking Show” used to fill.
