Gold changed to silver color

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tina

New member
Joined
Oct 27, 2017
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I was trying a experiment with grandson, We took some sand about 2 cups and put in old glass coffee pot
put muriatic acid on it about 3 cups as he kept saying he could see gold in in and thought if he used the acid
it would make it shinier so easier to pick out, we let it sit for 4 hours used another lab glass to pour off excess. We then rinsed it about 7 times to get all the acid off and let it sit in final bath of water overnight.
What he thought was gold is now a bright silver color! Will Muriatic acid change the color of gold to a silver color. What is this shiny stuff, This was a one time thing I hope but we really would like to know.
 
It is not gold,the gases are toxic keep your grandson away, the solution is toxic and needs to be properly treated for dangerous waste.
The shiny stuff can produce arsenic gases with the acids.
 
Whatever it was it was probably stained by iron. The hydrochloric acid leached the iron and left the minerals without the staining.
My guess is that he has found mica, it's easily stained by iron and looks silvery in color when pure. It is commonly found in thin flakes that is easily moved by water. Since it's light it often stays on top of sand and the reflections on the flat surfaces looks great under some water.

Gold on the other hand is really heavy so it sinks to the bottom of any moving sand, like on a beach, so you won't find it on top of sand on a beach. It won't change color if washed with acid either unless it was covered by something, but it would still be yellow. When you once seen it in a gold pan then you'll never make the mistake taking mica or pyrite for gold.

Göran
 
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