Corny Chemistry Spot

Hello chemistry fam! I'm very thankful that you came across this post which is the beginning of the series, "Diskalopsia". Today, we shall take a look at our first nominee/participant, none other than the bright and beautiful Bismuth metal. To the ones who have already come across the metal, I'd bet that you certainly wanted to have one as a collection, jewelry or an artifact. Well, don't be ashamed for even I wanted one after taking a look at its color. The most attractive things about Bismuth include its color and shape. A wise smelter could easily bring out Bismuth from its ores, Bismuthinite and Bismite into pure metal ingots (shown below) that naturally look like any other lustrous metal. (99% pure Bismuth ingot, image source from Indiamart)      It might not seem very different from other metals, but the catch here lies when one tries to melt these ingots and recrystallize them. You see, when we melt any ordinary metal and recrystallize it, it is made devoid...

  Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which had hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty ~ Galileo Galilei       The simple human mind satisfies itself only by merely believing that it knows sufficient enough to live another day. It knows that one life is never enough to conquer the entire knowledge of the world, and when it gets stuck in the realization of its incapability, it ceases to exist. A very long list exists showing people committing suicide owing to their realization of lack of power for understanding things a regular human being is incapable of. From classical artists like Vincent van Gogh, to modern artists like Avicii, the self-inflicted thought of lack of power to gain complete knowledge of the discovered as well as unexplored paths of nature cripples a man's faith to live another day in guilt and concern. I hope I didn't scare you or put you in a state of existential crisis by letting...