Originally Posted by
CopperMiner
Welcome on the forum. For curiosity's sake, where do you find indium? I am not even sure to identify it without a test if I stumble on that stuff.
I've found most of my indium from cheap defected Galinstan thermometers. I separated the gallium from the indium and am left with a little tin. It can also be found in high vacuum seals, as a coating on old bearings, and as a major component of most fusible soldering alloys (ie liquid at room temperature or very low melting temperature eutectic alloys). The fire sprinklers in most buildings usually have an indium/gallium/tin/bismuth alloy that stops up the drain. When the ambient temperature gets close to the alloys melting point (like the beginning of a fire) the alloy stopper melts and releases the water. This is why in movies and tv shows you can see a character set one of the sprinklers off by holding the small flame of a bic lighter directly beneath the sprinkler head.
You usually won't find indium in it's pure form but it is very remarkable. It's softer than lead (if you can imagine) yet still dense. When bent it has the same crystal twinning crackling sound that is characteristic of tin. It's color is bright silver like tin.
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