making sulfur 'worms'

[sunray18]

I have just been asked to melt sulfur and make sulfur worms for friday ....
Does anyone know how to do this?
MORE importantly - is this something that we can do? Is it too hazardous..
ADVICE please...

[dime]

Not sure what the worm bit is. But I have melted sulfur and poured it into iceblock containers - only a shallow depth, and made little ingots of sulfur. Good for conductivity testing, as they last and you can get an alligator clip onto the ingot. Can't quite remember what I melted it in, but a beaker would do, over a bunsen. It cools quite quickly, so pour out "worms" on maybe a piece of overhead film? What cools in the beaker can be chipped out when cold, or soaked in NaOH 1 or 2M for a couple of days and the sulfur comes away from the glass.

[Robdean]

I also have made little blocks or chunks of sulfur by heating the sulfur but beware it needs to be done in a fume cupboard as sulfur dioxide is released.

From CSIS Appendix D p 241: "When heated to the melting point, sulfur usually ignites, forming highly toxic sulfur dioxide , thus sulfur should be heated in a stoppered test tube. All reactions involving the heating of sulfur should be carried out in a fume cupboard. The production of small quantities of sulfur dioxide gas can be a high risk activity for those students susceptible to asthma attacks."

I know I did it in the fume cupboard but from memory I didn't stopper the tube! I only heated a small amount at a time though. The whole process was done in the fume cupboard.

[fibreweb]

Last year I purchased a jar of solid sulphur rolls. I was rather expensive about $50 for a kg. They are solid rolls about the thickness of a 50c piece and 15cm long. I think it was from Serrata
I have cut and split them into smaller lengths for testing the conductivity of sulphur and also showing that sulphur is a solid not just the powder that the kids are used to seeing.
Hopefully the bottle will last for years!
Wendy

[lizzieb]

Thanks Wendy, that's good to know...