# Silver crystals from "Mini-Cell"



## peter i (Apr 11, 2008)

Low voltage favours larger crystals, but I still do not have the control I want.
(Thought I would share the pictures anyway)

Pictures are taken with an Olympus SZX16 microscope fitted with an Altra20 camera capturing the pictures with "Cell^A" on a computer.


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## peter i (Apr 11, 2008)

more pictures


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## peter i (Apr 11, 2008)

The cat ate my scale-bars, but the frames are approx 3 cm corner-corner


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## Rag and Bone (Apr 11, 2008)

Those look really cool! I could see them fetching good money in a rock shop or on ebay. Is it possibe to make gold crystals?


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## peter i (Apr 11, 2008)

Thanks!

I honestly don't know about gold crystals. In theory it should be possible, I guess.


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## Lou (Apr 11, 2008)

It is indeed possible, but it is not easy to do it.


In fact, this works better:

2AuCl3 <---> 2Au + 3 Cl2

precise temperature control is required. It takes advantage of the thermodynamic instability of AuCl3 and for it to disproportionate to the elements. The process can take several weeks but nice, large, crystals can be grown.


Lou


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## P_CARROLL (Apr 12, 2008)

Was this done in a silver cell? and if so a pic of the cell please.


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## peter i (Apr 12, 2008)

Creative electrochemistry:

An "almost pure" lump of silver dissolves at the positive end, and is deposited at the negative end. The fun part is, that the recrystallized silver is quite a bit more pure (99.99% or 99.999%) than the 95-99% silver you started with.

Noble impurities are recovered as "anode slime".

My cell: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=1905


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