[Oromis]

I'm starting my own element collection and my plan was to seal each element in an ampoule under Argon to protect them from the air and hopefully from leaking. My question is how would one seal gasses in an ampoule by hand without a machine? Especially Hydrogen.

My initial idea is to flush the tube out with excess Hydrogen to try and flush out as much atmospheric gas as possible. Then continuing to push hydrogen into the tube during the sealing process (heating around the sides of the tube well away from the end and twisting it shut. Would this work? Any precautions I should be weary of? Any tips?

I live in Australia so buying the samples from suppliers is costly, and honestly it kind of seems a bit like cheating yourself out of fun of collecting in the first place.

Thanks in Advance

[Arkcon]

This is not easy.  This is not tricky, but it is not easy.  Soft soda lime glass tubing can be crimped with a Bunsen burner flame.  If the tube is full of a gas, it will be sealed within.  You can get better results if you liquify the gas, say for chlorine -- you can do the with dry ice, before you seal.  However, hydrogen gas in a tube, that you're flame sealing, presumably in an air environment (since you do need that to live) -- that's too risky.

[curiouscat]

See if a lab at a university will let you use their glove box for a bit.

[Oromis]

Thats a good thought, I'll talk to a few of my lecturers about it when I get around to it. Would there be a safety issue with doing oxygen as well? If so would sealing the tube under an oxidizing flame be safest?

[Arkcon]

You will need a very hot flame to melt the tube.  The "oxidizing" and "reducing" parts of a blowpipe flame, meant for bead tests and the like, are general terms, not absolutes.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidizing_and_reducing_flames

[Oromis]

I've just ordered some lengths of tubing for making the ampoules. Once I get them I'll have a play and see how I go.
So hydrogen is the only gas I need to taken incredible care with?