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Background: In the world I'm building, "magic" is a technology that uses different wiring patterns to manipulate electromagnetic, and a some levels quantum, properties. People have these patterns placed on their bodies in what is essentially a metal tattoo in order to gain these powers, but for illegal/black market marks, they are essentially pouring ribbons of molten metal directly onto the skin.

Is there any way that the black market tactic could be done in a way that the body would not eventually force out the metal?

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    $\begingroup$ You said it yourself. "Metal Tattoo". that's all that is needed. Pouring metal ON the skin would not work, even if it did bond, because we shed outer layers of skin. But tattoo depth? That stays. $\endgroup$
    – user79911
    Commented Nov 7, 2020 at 16:54
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    $\begingroup$ note the three of the most common tattoo inks are iron oxide, titanium dioxide and chromium oxide, so your tattoos are already metal. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Nov 7, 2020 at 19:06
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    $\begingroup$ @John: No, the oxides aren't metal. Metals ae good conductors, ductile, shiny, &c. The oxides are pretty good insulators, not ductile nor shiny. $\endgroup$
    – jamesqf
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 4:13
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    $\begingroup$ @John You're the one confused here. Metal doesn't mean "any element with a metallic atom". $\endgroup$
    – Blackhole
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 12:04
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    $\begingroup$ @John Rust isn't a metal; it's a metal oxide. $\endgroup$
    – wizzwizz4
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 20:35

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YES

Just recently scientists figured out how to print circuits directly onto the skin source. The are printing silver directly on to the skin with no barrier layer in between, by using a secondary compound that allows the silver to sinter at room temprature.

enter image description here

but there are a lot of alternatives as well.

  1. Normal tattoos are already metal compounds so you can start there.

  2. Implants, you can implant metal into the body, we already do so for medical reasons.

enter image description here

  1. But if you are dead set on pouring metal on people your best bets are titanium or gold. Both are at least non-toxic, sure the people will be getting 2nd and 3rd degree burns but at least they are not being poisoned on top of it.
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  • $\begingroup$ naaaah, use Gallium in the alloy and it melts super low $\endgroup$
    – Trish
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 14:58
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    $\begingroup$ For more on implants, see also subdermal implants and transdermal implants. $\endgroup$
    – Eric Towers
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 16:27
  • $\begingroup$ Main problem with sintering metal on skin is that it's not permanent. Kind of like a temporary tattoo. Not that that mightn't be useful for the OP's scenario! An adept may not want the same pattern all the time; or they may wish to combine permanent and temporary circuits. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 20:09
  • $\begingroup$ @elemtilas nothing on skin is permanent, tattoos are permanent because they are UNDER the skin $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Nov 10, 2020 at 0:41
  • $\begingroup$ Exactly. They're not "effectively bonded" to the skin. $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Nov 10, 2020 at 2:46
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NO

There are only two molten metals (elemental) that would not instantly deep fry (or deep freeze) a person's skin: gallium and mercury. As you can see in this video (get up to about 6:15), mercury doesn't wet the skin -- it won't stick. And as you can see in this video, the same holds true for gallium. Don't worry about mercury poisoning! Elemental Hg is relatively safe and it takes quite a while for enough to absorb to be dangerous. Ga is non toxic.

As for metal tattoos, that's really not a good idea at all. Injecting oneself with mercury ranks up there withe the best of the Darwin Award winners. In fact, IV injection of Hg is one means of attempted suicide. It's also used in Ayurvedic medicine.

The body can indeed work well with some implanted metals, notably titanium, which is used in fixing fractures. Mercury won't work so well, not only because it will eventually become toxic, but also because it won't form a "tattoo". What will happen is there will eventually form an abscess full of mercury and you'll also have lots of time droplets of mercury spread all along the injection track.

There are some good radiographs in this article and other images in this article showing mercury deposits.

enter image description here

So much for Science.

SURE!

But you're looking at a magical system here, and therein lies the difference. There are metals, bismuth alloys in particular, that have melting points that would be (just barely) tolerable for a biological system, BEND metal, for example. It melts at a little less that 160 degrees -- enough to burn, but if managed should pose no lasting harm.

What they'll need is a kind of biothaumic flux, kind of like how ordinary flux is applied to a surface in order to get solder to bond to it, so biothaumic flux is applied to the skin in order to a) protect it somewhat from the heat of the metal and also b) to help the metal adhere to the skin.

Naturally, the molten metal, whose nature is fiery & electric, will need to be attenuated by the proper bioflux. They'll want its nature to be watery & earthy.

The application of such thaumic tattoos is technically simple, but requires much study & practice by the tattooist in order to get the patterns to go right. Visually, it's not a whole lot different from henna application.

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    $\begingroup$ Elemental mercury can actually pass through the skin in small quantities, prolonged contact can be VERY toxic. please do not make light of this danger. it also slowly vaporizes at normal pressures so prolonged contact can lead to inhalation of toxic levels. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Nov 7, 2020 at 19:04
  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure about gallium not sticking to skin? iirc in high school chemistry I learned that prolonged gallium contact can leave a silvery residue/stain $\endgroup$
    – Dragongeek
    Commented Nov 7, 2020 at 19:38
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    $\begingroup$ @John -- Note that I specified that it takes quite a while for a sufficient amount of Hg to get into the skin. Far worse is breathing the vapour (heard of "mad as a hatter"?) and ingesting the salts. Prolonged exposure to just about anything will be deleterious eventually. Please don't over rate it! $\endgroup$
    – elemtilas
    Commented Nov 7, 2020 at 22:04
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    $\begingroup$ Yes it takes a while for a dangerous level to build up in a single session, but mercury build up is cumulative. Mercury does not have many ways out of the body so even brief exposure can become toxic if repeated. Also yes, breathing the vapor is most dangerous what people don't realize is mercury spontaneously turns to a vapor at room temprature, becasue its vapor pressure is so low, so if you are handling mercury exposed to air you are breathing in mercury vapor. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 2:15
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    $\begingroup$ Well there's also NaK - usually liquid at room temperature but not with more Na. Problem: spontaneous combustion. Also various alloys containing gallium/indium/bismuth/tin (though not a eutectic such as Galinstan; adjusting the proportions would get this into a sensible range). You probably want a melting point of around 40°C or 100°F as the heat capacity and especially the latent heat will be high enough to burn skin otherwise. Still might not stick though $\endgroup$
    – Chris H
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 13:03
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There are ways yes, but skin isn't bonded to the rest of our bodies.

There are other answers covering other approaches like tatoos and silver painting, etc, but one approach which hasn't been mentioned is that molten plastic will bond to skin, and metals can be mixed with plastic.

I've had the unfortunate experience of receiving what's known as a "Tar burn", which is when some molten plastic merges to skin. Typically this happens when synthetic clothing melts onto the skin (in my case, nylon handles on a fire dancing item got tangled with the hot end, I separated the two with a kick, but neglected to wait before I picked up the molten handles).

Molten plastic will still be merged with the skin until the skin dies and is shedded, if the burn was a nasty burn, the skin will be shredded within a few days, however a very mild burn that doesn't peel and it could stay bonded for months. (First aid guides I've read advise not pulling molten plastic off - cool it ASAP, and then wait for the plastic to come off on it's own).

Mixing quantities of metals with plastic and keeping the melting property of plastic with the metal properties is how we're able to 3d print electric circuits

So yes, you can melt skin and plastic together, and that plastic can have metal in it. Or you can use any other answer to get metal on the skin, but anything merged with the surface will be shredded in a few months.

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    $\begingroup$ Did you mean “shed”? “Shedded” isn't a “proper word” (it's traditionally the past tense of shed as in “shed blood”), and “shredded” means something completely different. $\endgroup$
    – wizzwizz4
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 20:41
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Most molten metals are either hot or toxic or both (gallium is an exception). It cannot "bond" with skin because it burns it or poisons it. Metal dust can also be toxic, but at least it will not be hot. So, as the comment by MarvinKitfox said, a tattoo with metal dust in it.

Professional/legal studios use less toxic metals only, street/illegal studios just don't care, they offer the customer a wide choice according to the size of his wallet. "For that price, I can give you mercury ink. That's easiest to handle and cheapest."

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  • $\begingroup$ Gallium is neither toxic, not hot. $\endgroup$
    – Trish
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 14:58
  • $\begingroup$ Like everything else, if the good guys can find a way to place patterns on bodies in what is essentially a metal tattoo, then bad guys will find a way at lest to fake it and given the resources, to duplicate it. That shouldn't change the chance of a "metal tattoo" turning out to be a brand, or a mere burn… but that's a different thing. $\endgroup$
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 22:38
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You do not want metal, you want conductive ink (also called conductive paint or electric paint). As the name says, it is conductive, non-toxic, can be painted easily, dries in few minutes. And the circuits can be corrected if necessary.

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