Each year Luciteria sells hundreds of kilograms of gallium metal; far more than any other of the 80+ elements the company sells. Presumably nearly all of it is going to homes where the novelty of thawing it with your body’s heat provides - we hope - not just a temporary, geeky plaything but perhaps turn out to be a measure of inspiration into a later career in the STEM fields.

Disillusionment tends to set in quickly with those who were hoping for it to be a hardier toy. While melting gallium in your hand is fun and harmless the gallium itself is very prone to picking up dirt and making a mess of itself. Despite its immense popularity we note in our sales database very few repeat orders which seems to suggest questionable staying power as an entertainment vehicle. One might reflexively think that storing it in a bottle, where it can stay clean from lack of direct handling, would be a solution. Alas, nope. Gallium also happens to have extreme sensitivity to oxygen. While this oxidation is invisible due to it forming only a microscopic layer, gallium oxide is very sticky and will readily coat anything almost anything it comes into contact with it. The protective bottle thus quickly turns into a mirror preventing your view of the liquefied metal behind it.

This dome is a cure for that problem. High-end lab equipment can replace oxygen with argon gas ensuring that this “toy” can finally become reality: melt it and let it slosh around in there til you get bored and then watch it solidify forming crystalline structures then melt it again and repeat this a thousand times if you want to and the ounce or so of gallium within will stay pristine until that sad sad day you accidentally drop it onto the floor… oh the humanity!

One last cautionary note: gallium expands a considerable 3% by volume upon freezing. Glass is not a material that deals with expansion with grace. While the lack of hard edges of this dome will help the cooling metal to expand along the path of least resistance it is best not to tempt the devil. To prevent accidental rupture, do not allow the molten gallium to stand at the bottom by letting it stand on its base. Instead, tip it on its side so that it’s free to expand as it cools down.