# portable refragtorimeter



## arthur kierski (Jan 17, 2011)

i received as a present 2such instruments---.
what are they for?what is its function----
the person that gave it to me is a chemistry student with a vague idea of its uses(me too)
thanks 
Arthur


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## shaftsinkerawc (Jan 17, 2011)

Are you spelling this off of a label or are you sounding it out? Is it possible you mean a refractometer?


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## arthur kierski (Jan 17, 2011)

sorry for the mispelling, you are right----refragtometter


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## arthur kierski (Jan 17, 2011)

refractometter


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## nickvc (Jan 18, 2011)

Arthur if my memory serves me correctly I believe they are used by gemologists to measure the refractive properties of gem stones to help give an accurate identification of samples. I'm sure there are other uses for them in other fields but what they are I haven't a clue.


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## shaftsinkerawc (Jan 18, 2011)

Lots of variety out there. Are your units battery operated or plug in style? Should have good resale value versus scrap.

"refractometers allow fast and non-destructive refractive index (RI) measurements. In refractometry, only a small volume of sample is required. For routine applications choose from different flow-through cells to suit your analysis and get RI and RI-derived results in seconds, e.g. the sugar content of a sample."


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## arthur kierski (Jan 18, 2011)

thanks both for the replies-----i see that is not used for precious metals recovery or refining


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## Platdigger (Jan 18, 2011)

Perhaps not for precious metals, but they will work for this: 
"One test to determine the gem's identity is to measure the refraction of light in the gem. Every material has a critical angle, at which point light is reflected back internally. This can be measured and thus used to determine the gem's identity. Typically, this is measured using a refractometer although it is possible to measure it using a microscope."


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## shaftsinkerawc (Jan 18, 2011)

The mineral identity with use of a thin section and microscope was what I was thinking. Sounds like these are a different unit.


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## shaftsinkerawc (Jan 18, 2011)

A thought would be if it could be used to identify powdered minerals within a sample?


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