Gallium for Fun
Gallium is the metal that melts in your hand. Hold a solid piece for a minute or two and it turns to a bright, mirror-like liquid at 29.8°C — roughly the temperature of a warm afternoon in Perth. It is one of the few genuinely astonishing things you can buy for under a hundred dollars, and unlike mercury it is non-toxic and safe to handle.
This page is about the enjoyable end of gallium: what to actually do with it once it arrives.
Things to try
Melt it in your hand
The classic, and still the best. Hold a piece in your palm and watch it slump and pool. Body heat is more than enough. Cup your hand or work over a dish — liquid gallium is dense (5.91 g/cm³, about six times heavier than water) and it moves faster than people expect.
Cast it into shapes
Melt gallium in warm water, pour it into a silicone mould, and put the mould in the fridge. In a few minutes you have a solid metal object that melts again on contact with skin. Silicone ice-cube and chocolate moulds work well and are cheap. The same gallium can be recast indefinitely — melting and resolidifying doesn't consume or degrade it.
The disappearing spoon
Cast a spoon in a silicone mould, hand it to someone with a hot drink, and watch it vanish as they stir. It is the most famous gallium trick there is, and it never stops working. We cover it in more detail on our gallium for magic and illusions page.
The aluminium can
Put a drop of gallium on an aluminium drink can and leave it overnight. Gallium diffuses into aluminium's grain boundaries and destroys its structure — by morning you can tear the can apart with your fingers. It is the single most memorable materials-science demonstration we know of.
It is also permanent and irreversible, which is exactly why it is worth understanding before you start. See the safety section below.
Make a mirror
Rubbed onto glass, liquid gallium leaves a genuine reflective metal film. Messy, striking, and a good way into a conversation about why metals reflect light at all.
Freeze it and watch it expand
Gallium is one of a handful of substances — water, silicon, bismuth — that expand when they freeze. Fill a flexible container most of the way and chill it, and the solid takes up more room than the liquid did. Don't use a rigid sealed container; it will split.
Safety, honestly
Gallium is non-toxic and safe to handle with normal care. It is not mercury and it does not behave like mercury. That said:
- Keep it away from aluminium. This is the real hazard, and it is to property rather than to people. Gallium permanently embrittles aluminium — window frames, laptop casings, cookware, ladders, tools, bicycle frames, aircraft. The damage cannot be undone. Work over a non-aluminium surface and wash your hands before touching anything aluminium.
- Wash your hands afterwards with soap and warm water, and don't ingest it.
- Keep it out of reach of small children — not because it is poisonous, but because it is a small heavy object that looks like a toy.
- It stains porous surfaces. Avoid fabric, unsealed timber and grout.
- A Safety Data Sheet is supplied with every order as standard.
Cleaning up
If gallium solidifies somewhere inconvenient, warm it with a hair dryer until it flows and wipe it up with a paper towel. Warm soapy water handles the residue. Don't scrape it with aluminium foil or aluminium tools — you will damage the tool and lose the gallium.
How much should you buy?
20g is enough for one person to melt, pour and play with. 100g is the popular choice — enough to cast a spoon and still have material left over, and enough for a few people to share. 250g suits a group or a classroom running several activities at once.
Browse gallium metal, or see for schools and universities if you need a quote or a purchase order. We hold stock in Perth and dispatch within 1–3 business days, Australia-wide.