# Exploding gold



## samuel-a (Sep 13, 2016)

Hi all... It has been so long since my last uplaod...
I know some are dissapointed, and for that pls accept my apology... Hope to produce more videos and tutorials soon.

So..... 
I remember the old stories here on how left over gold and silver solutions on wipes and tissue paper reacted in the fumehood with Ammonia gas and gave a good scare to some good folks...
Well, here's how it happens...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kABusu4Qcr0[/youtube]


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## Lou (Sep 13, 2016)

People often forget how dangerous silver and gold nitrides can be. 


What was the gold tenor in that solution, 1 g/L?



Once upon a time, I had occasion to investigate this substance as part of PGC production.


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## samuel-a (Sep 13, 2016)

About 10g/L
I needed a good visible reaction.

Iv'e found It is reletivly safe to work with as long as you make sure it rwacts completly and no more product forms. Othwrwise it is much less stable.

I would love it if you shed some light frim you experiance about the chemistry of this compound species.


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## anachronism (Sep 13, 2016)

So don't mix AR and Ammonia in the same fume cabinet right?


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## Shark (Sep 13, 2016)

Kind of makes me glad I use very little to no ammonia in my refining. The way the spoon reacted to the aluminum foil was very impressive and is a sign of a very powerful explosion. Typically the lighter weight object will be propelled harder and the heavy weight object will often remain almost motionless.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Sep 13, 2016)

Nice video Sam. :mrgreen:


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## maynman1751 (Sep 14, 2016)

Great video Sam!  So, in essence, if you wash your gold powder in ammonia, always rinse again with HCl to re-acidify. 8)


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## g_axelsson (Sep 14, 2016)

Great video Sam and congratulation to 100.000 subscribers! That's an achievement!  

I might imaging things, but isn't there a pale purple tone on that spoon after the first explosion?



maynman1751 said:


> Great video Sam!  So, in essence, if you wash your gold powder in ammonia, always rinse again with HCl to re-acidify. 8)


Not so much the gold powder, but the ammonia you used to was the powder with. There you have the silver chloride washed out from the gold powder. It never hurt to wash the gold powder again in acid though and you can use that wash to acidify the ammonia.

Göran


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## kurtak (Sep 14, 2016)

Nice video Sam - thanks for posting it :!: (I am a pyro maniac) :mrgreen: 

As pointed out by Lou - silver nitride is another "unintended" explosive compound that can be made as a result of working with ammonia in the refining lab 

AND --- nitrides are not the only "unintended" explosive compounds the hobby refiner needs to worry about making 

Fulminates are another explosive compound (unintended) that hobby refiners need to be aware of making

Fulminates are formed (precipitated) when alcohol(s) (any alcohol) are added to solutions of metals dissolved with nitrates (nitric acid, "etc.") --- AND - fulminates are "VERY" pressure sensitive explosive

Silver fulminate is so pressure sensitive that it can be detonated by the weight of a falling feather &/or under its own weight (as it precipitates &/or during stirring) & it is explosive while wet 

:arrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate

The concern here (for the hobby refiner) is that instructions for preparing DMG ( both here & out on the net) suggest using alcohol(s) to dissolve the DMG - NOT a good idea :!: 

DMG should be prepared with NaOH as follows --- 100 ml "hot" D-water + 4 gr NaOH + 5.81 gr DMG 

:arrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulminating_gold 

Fulminating should not be confused with fulminate --- fulminating is a reference to a compound that will detonate easily and violently - a nitride or azide are examples of fulminating compounds though they don't actually contain the fulminate anion

Although not likely to happen unintended - copper, silver & gold acetylide explosives can be formed with acetylene contacting aqueous solutions of those metals (bubbling the acetylene through the solution)

The point being - if you use oxy/acetylene for melting - you should not have your torch set up around the area you are working with solutions of dissolved metals --- an acetylene leak could result in the gas contacting a solution & precipitating an acetylide

Kurt


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## resabed01 (Sep 14, 2016)

Congrats on the 100k subscribers Sam!


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## samuel-a (Sep 17, 2016)

Thank you guys.




g_axelsson said:


> I might imaging things, but isn't there a pale purple tone on that spoon after the first explosion?



Yes, definitely!


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## goldsilverpro (Sep 17, 2016)

Excellent, Sam, as always. You have the perfect voice for these videos.


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## IdahoMole (Sep 18, 2016)

GSP, I was thinking the same thing about the voice. Noxx, if you ever desire a change of profession I would suggest auditioning as a narrator 

Edit: Sorry, for some reason I thought Noxx owned that site.  Sam, my apologies.


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## samuel-a (Feb 16, 2017)

IdahoMole said:


> GSP, I was thinking the same thing about the voice. Noxx, if you ever desire a change of profession I would suggest auditioning as a narrator
> 
> Edit: Sorry, for some reason I thought Noxx owned that site.  Sam, my apologies.



IdahoMole 
You were right in the in the original post. 
Noxx does indeed own GRF, not me. :mrgreen: 
I own GNS :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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## rickbb (Feb 17, 2017)

Nice video, as a fellow pyromaniac it's always a thrill. Reminds me of the bad old days when a friend of mine would make a silver fulminate type of mixture in the high school chem lab and splatter it on the floor of the hallways between classes. Caused quite a stir when the bell rang to change classes and everyone poured out in the hall. :shock: 

He finally got caught and boy did he get a tongue lashing! Try that today and you'd get expelled permanently, if not jail time.


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