You learn something new everyday! Diana's Tree

Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Many years ago I carried out an experiment where I put 20 grams of gold in 500 grams of mercury and heated it to around 80C for 2 weeks in a fume cupboard with extraction scrubbing.

I ended up with a spray of gold coloured multi faceted crystals up to 20mm long and 5mm wide maximum, 2 mm long and 0.5mm wide minimum.

These crystals had compositions varying from Hg4Au to Hg Au4.

The mercury could be extracted from the crystals by contact with nitric acid, this indicated that the crystals should not be made into jewellery which could contact bare skin.

The crystals were best displayed by casting them in clear resin, great care was needed as they were fragile but the results were impressive.

Over the years these crystals were given away or lost and photos taken were also lost.

Similar effects should be possible using any metal which can be amalgamated such as silver and copper.

This should not be tried without a dedicated fume cupboard.

Deano
 
Back
Top