Crazy question

[Marziman]

I've thought of this for a while, is it possible to liquid cool your PC with Gallium(this metal melts in your hand) or Mercury?

[Tedster]

I've thought of this for a while, is it possible to liquid cool your PC with Gallium(this metal melts in your hand) or Mercury?

It's probably theoretically possible, but please don't try it. With mercury, if you spill any you're going to be in trouble. Doing some research about gallium.

Meh, with Gallium you're going to end up having to have the system always on, otherwise the gallium is going to become too cold and is going to freeze and get stuck and stuff like that..

 

I also don't think it's a good idea to have a loop with something that is hugely conductive as a primary thing in it.

[Loadent]

Let's find all the old thermostats, we will need about 1000. Drain an aio and refill. Boom merc cooled!

[chris070163]

Between the two either toxicity or density with kill either you or your rig. Your PC would probably go first if that's any comfort.

[Tedster]

Between the two either toxicity or density with kill both you and you rig.

Welcome to the Forum!

 

And yeah, density is probably a major issue. I hadn't even considered it!

[KE2012]

I can imagine the metal doing bad things to the plastics in the tube and when gallium solidifies it will probably expand, bricking your blocks and pump.

[Marziman]

I can imagine the metal doing bad things to the plastics in the tube and when gallium solidifies it will probably expand, bricking your blocks and pump.

Who said I'd be using plastic?

[Tedster]

Who said I'd be using plastic?

We assumed you'd be using plastic. If you're using metal, similar things may happen.

[LukeTim]

I can imagine the metal doing bad things to the plastics in the tube and when gallium solidifies it will probably expand, bricking your blocks and pump.

Does Gallium really expand when it solidifies?

Interesting. How does that happen?

[Tedster]

Does Gallium really expand when it solidifies?

Interesting. How does that happen?

Most things expand when they solidify.

Example:

http://www.iapws.org/faq1/freeze.html

[Guest]

I've thought of this for a while, is it possible to liquid cool your PC with Gallium(this metal melts in your hand) or Mercury?

I think they do not conduct heat very well...            

[LukeTim]

Most things expand when they solidify.

Example:

http://www.iapws.org/faq1/freeze.html

 

I understood the case to be the opposite.

Water is an outlier in that it forms hydrogen bonds as it solidifies which maintains a certain distance between molecules, hence causing the volume to increase. Of course, pure metals like Gallium and Mercury don't have hydrogen atoms, they form ionic bonds which can be very close.

[Naeaes]

The thing is, you can't move such a viscose medium with traditional pumps. Instead, you'll need an EM (electromagnetic, duh) pump. That's exactly what it sounds like; a moving magnetic field is generated with electricity, propelling the liquid forward. But it really only woks for small amounts of metal. Huge magnets would be fine for bigger amounts of metal but huge magnets aren't really welcome in computers. You know, we got all these HDDs here and whatnot. So small amounts it is. 

 

Small amounts of cooling liquid translates easily to aircooling with heatpipes. And the thing already exists. But they're not common due to being expensive in comparison and not very efficient. 

[KE2012]

Does Gallium really expand when it solidifies?

Interesting. How does that happen?

 

I understood the case to be the opposite.

Water is an outlier in that it forms hydrogen bonds as it solidifies which maintains a certain distance between molecules, hence causing the volume to increase. Of course, pure metals like Gallium and Mercury don't have hydrogen atoms, they form ionic bonds which can be very close.

 

Well It's been along time since I've studied chemistry and from the sounds of things you know more on this than I do so your probably right but in my defence I did say it would probably expand. But even if it contracts, this will still likely cause all sorts of problems with pressure becoming negative in the system and bending delicate fins​.

 

Either way I think its just safe to agree that using liquid metals like this, as cool as it would look, is not an ideal liquid for your system.....

[Codyman125]

Oh god... I can only imagine the carnage from a leaky GALLIUM filled AIO... you'd need to make sure NOTHING in the loop is aluminium, just look up what gallium does to a pop can...

[W-L]

It was done back in the day by sapphire on a GPU, never sure if it actual hit the market though.

http://www.frostytech.com/permalinkArch.cfm?NewsID=59728

[spwath]

It was done back in the day by sapphire on a GPU, never sure if it actual hit the market though.

http://www.frostytech.com/permalinkArch.cfm?NewsID=59728

Interesting...

not sure how thats usefull on just a gpu, but interesting...

[ToastyBear]

Most things expand when they solidify.

Example:

http://www.iapws.org/faq1/freeze.html

Water is one of the few compounds that expand when they solidify. Most liquid don't form hydrogen bonds to crystallize

 

Also gallium will corrode your metal blocks.

Mercury on the other hand will make you retarded because it evaporates for you to breathe the fumes.

[Marziman]

Most things expand when they solidify.

Example:

http://www.iapws.org/faq1/freeze.html

Gallium doesn't expand because it holds shape.  It's not like ice especially when you take it's high density into the equation.

[Marziman]

Water is one of the few compounds that expand when they solidify. Most liquid don't form hydrogen bonds to crystallize

 

Also gallium will corrode your metal blocks.

Mercury on the other hand will make you retarded because it evaporates for you to breathe the fumes.

Maybe I'll grow a third eye.

[Jidonsu]

Water is a great coolant because it has a high specific heat. It takes 4.184J to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree celcius. This is why the hottest part of your loop is usually no more than 2 degrees hotter than the coolest part. Gallium has a specific heat of 0.37, so the same amount of heat will raise the temp of your gallium loop by more than 11 times that of water. That means your delta T (coolant temp minus ambient) will be really high.

[Jidonsu]

Gallium does conduct heat better though, so a properly designed system could potentially make use of it as long as you can remove the heat from the loop quickly.