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I've followed this thread with considerable interest, and I'd like to comment on the concept of *better*. I'm not convinced it's better-----just an alternate way to test.

There are times when a spot plate will serve far better. That, of course, requires that one use stannous chloride as a prepared solution.

Want an example?

You have a solution that is not well defined. It may or may not contain platinum group metals, but the bold gold reaction masks anything that may be present.

In such a case, I'd place a drop of the unknown solution in a spot plate cavity, and then add a crystal of ferrous sulfate. That would precipitate the gold, leaving the balance of the values in solution. You could then split the drop and test with stannous chloride and DMG, to determine the presence of palladium and/or platinum. The test strips are nice----but they won't replace stannous chloride in all cases.

The best equipped lab will have at its disposal all (reasonable) methods to test---including the paper strips.

Harold

<blockquote data-quote="Harold_V" data-source="post: 117572" data-attributes="member: 4">I&#039;ve followed this thread with considerable interest, and I&#039;d like to comment on the concept of *better*.&nbsp; I&#039;m not convinced it&#039;s better-----just an alternate way to test. There are times when a spot plate will serve far better.&nbsp;&nbsp; That, of course, requires that one use stannous chloride as a prepared solution.Want an example?You have a solution that is not well defined.&nbsp; &nbsp; It may or may not contain platinum group metals, but the bold gold reaction masks anything that may be present.&nbsp; &nbsp; In such a case, I&#039;d place a drop of the unknown solution in a spot plate cavity, and then add a crystal of ferrous sulfate.&nbsp; &nbsp; That would precipitate the gold, leaving the balance of the values in solution.&nbsp; You could then split the drop and test with stannous chloride and DMG, to determine the presence of palladium and/or platinum.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; The test strips are nice----but they won&#039;t replace stannous chloride in all cases. The best equipped lab will have at its disposal all (reasonable) methods to test---including the paper strips.Harold</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Harold_V, post: 117572, member: 4"] I've followed this thread with considerable interest, and I'd like to comment on the concept of *better*. I'm not convinced it's better-----just an alternate way to test. There are times when a spot plate will serve far better. That, of course, requires that one use stannous chloride as a prepared solution. Want an example? You have a solution that is not well defined. It may or may not contain platinum group metals, but the bold gold reaction masks anything that may be present. In such a case, I'd place a drop of the unknown solution in a spot plate cavity, and then add a crystal of ferrous sulfate. That would precipitate the gold, leaving the balance of the values in solution. You could then split the drop and test with stannous chloride and DMG, to determine the presence of palladium and/or platinum. The test strips are nice----but they won't replace stannous chloride in all cases. The best equipped lab will have at its disposal all (reasonable) methods to test---including the paper strips. Harold [/QUOTE]

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