My periodic table poster is now available! You've probably heard of manganese nodules, those funny blobs found in the deep ocean. Remember when Howard Hughes built a ship to explore mining them, and they were going to be a great new natural resource? Turns out the whole thing was a cover story for the CIA's attempt to raise a sunken Soviet submarine. Seriously, it is now a well established fact that the Hughes Glomar Explorer was built to CIA specs, and the manganese nodules story was just as story. The nodules are real, and they do exist in the deep ocean, I even have one, they just aren't nearly as exciting as they were made out to be. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of anything exciting to say about manganese other than this story. It's used in the Sacagawea Dollar coin? Compare at other websites: periodictable.com Wikipedia WebElements Museum Display Minerals Translations and Etymology Science Fiction (Main Site) Comics Collections: Elements in the Human Body Minerals, Alloys, and Compounds Elements Popular in Collections Poster Samples Elements I Have Extra Of Samples with Rotatable Images Samples with High Resolution Spin Movies Small lump 99.95%. Kindly donated by David Franco, who sent many elements after seeing the slashdot discussion. Source: David Franco Contributor: David Franco Acquired: 17 May, 2002 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 99.95% Fine Powder. This is a fine powder of manganese. Gets on everything. Weighs more than you'd expect for a powder. Highly toxic. Source: Mark Rollog Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 20 July, 2002 Price: $7 Size: 0.0001" Purity: >99% Sample Group: Powders Lots of lumps. This is about a pound of lumps similar to the one I got from David Franco (see above). Since I know Franco sends only the very purest of samples, and since these look identical to the one he sent, I feel reasonably confident in assigning them a similar purity. They were obviously created by the same basic process. Source: eBay seller snooj Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 22 August, 2002 Price: $10 Size: 0.75" Purity: 99.9% Sample from the RGB Set. The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description or the company's website which includes many photographs and pricing details. I have two photographs of each sample from the set: One taken by me and one from the company. You can see photographs of all the samples displayed in a periodic table format: my pictures or their pictures. Or you can see both side-by-side with bigger pictures in numerical order. The picture on the left was taken by me. Here is the company's version (there is some variation between sets, so the pictures sometimes show different variations of the samples): Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 25 January, 2003 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 99.9% Sample from the Everest Set. Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gases) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid. To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Rob Accurso Contributor: Rob Accurso Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: >99% Museum-grade sample. In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings). This vial of manganese contains 70+ grams of electrolytic manganese plate, very beautiful lustrous stuff. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 February, 2004 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: See Listing Size: 2" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples Museum-grade sample. In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings). This flame-sealed, argon-purged ampule of manganese contains 50+ grams of electrolytic manganese plate, very beautiful lustrous stuff. I chose this sample to represent its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 February, 2004 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: See Listing Size: 0.5" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples Mini element collection. This is a nice little set from the 1960's. The enclosed price list indicates it cost a few dollars, and the enclosed mercury sample indicates it predates current environmental concerns! Here's a picture of the whole 2-box set: Source: Blake Ferris Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 15 July, 2004 Price: $61/set Size: 1" Purity: >98% Mini element collection. For some reason the set described in the previous sample contains two different samples of manganese, one in each box. Go figure. Source: Blake Ferris Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 15 July, 2004 Price: $61/set Size: 1" Purity: >98% Heavy lump of master alloy. I think this is a lump (about 11 pounds) of manganese-steel master alloy. Etching with HCl (see next sample) produced an interesting dendritic structure, indicating that the material is not homogeneous. The source described it as pure manganese, but this is not likely. Source: eBay seller grandejunquetion Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 9 February, 2009 Text Updated: 8 February, 2009 Price: $10 Size: 6" Purity: <70% Manganese oxide pigment tile. Manganese oxide has been found used as a pigment in cave paintings from as long as 17,000 years ago. This tile is not quite that old, but according to the seller it dates to about 1800, making it a good 200 years old. Source: eBay seller chrisbuckman Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 11 March, 2009 Text Updated: 12 March, 2009 Price: $45 Size: 4" Purity: <5% Manganese steel razor. Antique manganese steel straight razor from Sollingen, Germany. Source: eBay seller edbrix Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 24 March, 2009 Text Updated: 24 March, 2009 Price: $10 Size: 3" Purity: <5% Small lithium-manganese battery. This small lithium cell is listed under manganese because, while everyone calls them "lithium batteries", they also have other elements in the electrolyte, in this case manganese dioxide. Source: Radio Shack Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 2 April, 2009 Text Updated: 7 April, 2009 Price: $5 Size: 0.5" Purity: <50% Manganese steel razor case. Not the case from the manganese steel razor listed earlier, but similar to the one it likely came in. Source: eBay seller alliesthenandnow Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 2 April, 2009 Text Updated: 3 April, 2009 Price: $9 Size: 7" Purity: 0% Improved poster sample. This is a cleaner piece of manganese broken plate, photographed to replace the rather dirty one that's been on my poster for years. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 15 April, 2009 Text Updated: 15 April, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 0.5" Purity: >99% Sample Group: RGB Samples Manganese bronze putter. According to the seller this is a "Ping Anser manganese bronze (85068) putter". There, now you know as much as I do. Source: eBay seller fasteddie_2007 Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 16 April, 2009 Text Updated: 17 April, 2009 Price: $51 Size: 4" Purity: <10% Romanechite from Jensan Set. This sample represents manganese in the "The Grand Tour of the Periodic Table" mineral collection from Jensan Scientifics. Visit my page about element collecting for a general description, or see photographs of all the samples from the set in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Jensan Scientifics Acquired: 17 March, 2003 Price: Donated Size: 1" Composition: (Ba,H2O)2Mn5O10 Rhodochrosite. (External Sample) Rhodochrosite. Location: John Gray's Collection Photographed: 11 March, 2003 Size: 1.375" Composition: MnCO3 Manganese Nodule. Do you remember when manganese nodules were going to be the next great gold rush? When a great new natural resource was going to be unleashed just as soon as someone figured out how to dredge them up from the incredibly deep ocean? Did you ever wonder if there might not be some in shallower water? Well, guess what: The whole thing was a complete fabrication. The CIA wanted to recover a Soviet submarine that had gone down in very, very deep water in the Pacific, and they needed a cover story because they knew that there was no way they could build and deploy the highly specialized kind of ship required to recover something from such great depth without the Russians (who knew exactly where their submarine had gone down) figuring out that something was up. So they enlisted Howard Hughes, the richest man in the world at the time and a notable nutcase, to pretend that he thought these manganese nodules, which just happened to exist only at great depths, were the next big thing. He built a large, specialized deep sea recovery ship, the Glomar Explorer, and sent it to find, um, um, manganese nodules, that's right, we're looking for manganese nodules. They actually did find the Soviet submarine and were able to recover parts of it. Eventually people forgot about the manganese nodules. If you don't believe me, read this report on the subject: http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm This particular nodule was recovered from 5100m of water in the central pacific by the MS Valdiva working for the Metallgesellschaft AG, Frankfurt am Main. I wonder if they thought they were going to get rich. Source: eBay seller mitryrock Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 3 June, 2003 Price: $20.50 Size: 1" Composition: MnNiCuCo RbMnF3 crystal. I don't even know what you'd call this other than by its chemical name: It's a pretty pinkish little bar of what is probably a single crystal, crudely cut and roughly surfaced, but not polished to any significant degree. It came from a batch of old samples and research materials being discarded by Ethan's university. The fact that it's translucent and colored makes me think it might be intended as some kind of laser material, whether it worked or not I have no idea. The fact that they threw it away may or may not indicate something about its usefulness. Source: Ethan Currens Contributor: Ethan Currens Acquired: 16 March, 2007 Text Updated: 14 October, 2008 Price: Donated Size: 1" Composition: RbMnF3 Manganite. Description from the source: Manganite (Mn+3O(OH) mon.), Ilfeld, Harz, Germany. Very good crystals in matrix. 4x3,5x2,5 cm; 15 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 26 September, 2008 Text Updated: 28 September, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 1.6" Composition: Mn.3O(OH) Eudyalite. Description from the source: Eudyalite (Na4(CaCe)2(Fe+2Mn+2Y+ZrSi8O22(OHCl)2 trig.), Kipawa Alcalyne Complex, Villedieu Tow., Quebec, Canada. Red, granular, with white fibrous Agrellite and beige Vlasovite. A rich thumbnail. 2,2x1,7x1 cm; 5 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 26 September, 2008 Text Updated: 28 September, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 0.85" Composition: Na4(CaCe)2(Fe,2Mn,2Y).ZrSi8O22(OHCl)2 Rhodochrosite. Description from the source: Rhodochrosite (Mn+2 CO3 trig.), Pachapaqui, Ancash, Peru. Nice pink crystal clusters. 4x4x2 cm; 40 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 30 September, 2008 Text Updated: 1 October, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 1.6" Composition: MnCO3 Pyroxmangite. Description from the source: Pyroxmangite (Mn+2 Si O3 tric. ), Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Massive, cleavaged. 8,5x4,5x1,5 cm; 70 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 30 September, 2008 Text Updated: 1 October, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 3.3" Composition: MnSiO3 Huebnerite. Description from the source: Huebnerite (Mn+2 WO4 mon.), Huayllapon Mine, Pasto Bueno, Ancash, Peru. Very nice biterminated crystal, black reddish, with Quartz, high lustre. 6,5x3,5x1,8 cm; 82 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 26 October, 2008 Text Updated: 16 March, 2009 Price: Trade Size: 2.5" Composition: MnWO4 Manganese oxides in quartz. Description from the source: Mn oxides included in Quartz. Minas Gerais, Brazil. 6x2,5x2,5 cm; 40 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 26 October, 2008 Text Updated: 26 October, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 2.4" Composition: MnO2+SiO2 Spessartite. Description from the source: Spessartite (Mn+23 Al2 (Si O4)3 cub.), Tongbei, Yunxiao, Fujian, China. Perfect crystals on matrix. 5x3,5x3 cm; 50 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 26 October, 2008 Text Updated: 26 October, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 2" Composition: Mn+23Al2(SiO4)3 Eudialyte from Jensan Set. This sample represents zirconium in the "The Grand Tour of the Periodic Table" mineral collection from Jensan Scientifics. Visit my page about element collecting for a general description, or see photographs of all the samples from the set in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 29 October, 2008 Text Updated: 29 October, 2008 Price: Anonymous Size: 1" Composition: Na15Ca6(FeMn)3Zr3[Si25O73](O,OH,H2O)3(OH,Cl)2 Manganaxinite. Description from the source: Manganaxinite (Ca2 Mn+2 Al2 B Si4 O15 (OH) tric.), Dalnegorsk, Russia. Brown greenish, bladed crystal cluster. 2,5x2x1,5 cm; 8 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 30 October, 2008 Text Updated: 31 October, 2008 Price: Trade Size: 1" Composition: Ca2Mn+2Al2BSi4O15(OH) Photo Card Deck of the Elements. In late 2006 I published a photo periodic table and it's been selling well enough to encourage me to make new products. This one is a particularly neat one: A complete card deck of the elements with one big five-inch (12.7cm) square card for every element. If you like this site and all the pictures on it, you'll love this card deck. And of course if you're wondering what pays for all the pictures and the internet bandwidth to let you look at them, the answer is people buying my posters and cards decks. Hint hint. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 19 November, 2008 Text Updated: 21 November, 2008 Price: $35 Size: 5" Composition: HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMg AlSiPSClArKCaScTiVCrMn FeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKr RbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAg CdInSnSbTeIXeCsBaLaCePr NdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTm YbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTl PbBiPoAtRnFrRaAcThPaUNp PuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRf DbSgBhHsMtDsRgUubUutUuq UupUuhUusUuo Ankerite. Description from the source: Ankerite (Ca (Fe+2 Mg Mn) (CO3)2 trig.), Laubuseschbach, Taunus, Germany. Brown crystal cluster on the same matrix. 3x2x1,8 cm; 15 g. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 10 January, 2009 Text Updated: 10 January, 2009 Price: Trade Size: 1.2" Composition: Ca(FeMgMn)(CO3)2 Bixbyite. Description from the source: Bixbyite ((Mn+3 Fe+3)2 O3 cub.), Thomas Range, Utah, USA. Perfect crystal. 0,9x0,8x0,8 cm; 9 g with box. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 10 January, 2009 Text Updated: 10 January, 2009 Price: Trade Size: 0.35" Composition: (Mn,Fe)2O3 Manganite. Description from the source: Manganite (Mn+3 O (OH) mon.), Ilfeld, Harz, Germany. Isolated, terminated black crystals. 1,3x0,6x0,5 cm the bigger; 3 g all. Source: Simone Citon Contributor: John Gray Acquired: 28 January, 2009 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: Trade Size: 0.5" Composition: MnO(OH) Ni-Cad battery. A common nickel-cadmium battery. These have fallen out of favor due to the toxied nature of cadmium. Nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries are pretty much better in all ways.. Source: eBay Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 11 March, 2009 Text Updated: 12 March, 2009 Price: $5 Size: 2" Composition: NiCdMn Wolframite. Sample of Wolframite. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 2 April, 2009 Text Updated: 3 April, 2009 Price: Anonymous Size: 1" Composition: FeWO4.MnWO4 Zincite. Sample of Zincite. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 2 April, 2009 Text Updated: 3 April, 2009 Price: Anonymous Size: 1" Composition: (ZnMnFe)O Manganese iodide. Manganese iodide, very pure, but sadly not mine, just borrowed for photography. Source: Anonymous Contributor: Anonymous Acquired: 17 April, 2009 Text Updated: 17 April, 2009 Price: None Size: 0.25" Composition: MnI2 Rhodonite. Rhodonite. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 25 April, 2009 Text Updated: 27 April, 2009 Price: Anonymous Size: 0.3" Composition: MnSiO3 Zincite. The mineral Zincite. Source: Jensan Scientifics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 31 October, 2009 Text Updated: 31 October, 2009 Price: Anonymous Size: 1" Composition: (Zn, Mn, Fe)O    My periodic table poster is now available!