I will play with it a bit more today if I get a chance. I may take it to a jeweler friend, fwiw it does not look like brass to me. and the part was in an actuator motor assembly that was sealed but not air tight, under a 4x4 truck. perhaps it is best that i get some sulfuric acid. We will see what the day brings.
A new source>>>
- Thread starter glondor
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sticking your finger into the back of your mouth may produce HCl, caution do your refining and testing of metals outdoors, or in a fume hood. :lol:
sorry could not help myself, I was trying to think of a way to get some of these chemicals.
may try using a cell with some salt water, a 9 volt batery would work, see if disolving some of your part as anode makes green liquid, and plates copper powder.
sorry could not help myself, I was trying to think of a way to get some of these chemicals.
may try using a cell with some salt water, a 9 volt batery would work, see if disolving some of your part as anode makes green liquid, and plates copper powder.
Ocean
Well-known member
interesting
The best i can come up with is some muriatic acid @ 31.45 %. its cheap enough so I bought some. home hardware also had sodium hydroxide and I can get that if necessary, or if it will do anything. I was tempted to try the hot ketchup! any how what should I do with the muriatic? just put a drop on and see what happens? let me know, I will document it as I do it.
Ok so I did a little experiment. It is not conclusive however it is more positive for gold I think. I took 4 gold coloured items. A piece of anodized aluminum from a monitor frame, a copper slab from a heat sink, a gold lid from a cpu and my contact plate from my actuator motor.
I placed them on a glass plate and added 1 drop of muriatic acid to each piece with a plastic cocktail stirrer from the skylon tower in Niagara Falls.
I waited for a bit then I warmed each piece until the acid evaporated.
then I took the pieces inside and washed them off.
The aluminum stained. the copper stained. the cpu cap no reaction. contact plate no reaction.
I placed them on a glass plate and added 1 drop of muriatic acid to each piece with a plastic cocktail stirrer from the skylon tower in Niagara Falls.
I waited for a bit then I warmed each piece until the acid evaporated.
then I took the pieces inside and washed them off.
The aluminum stained. the copper stained. the cpu cap no reaction. contact plate no reaction.
Now you have HCl with some (small additions) bleach you can dissolve some gold. Try just a little (sliver) of your metal, in test tube or whiskey shot glass (caution drink the whiskey not the yellow gold solution), if solution is yellow that will be a good sign, now some heat or just sun to let chlorine dissipate, go to hardware store and get some tin (95% as solder 5%antimony), now dissolving a piece of solder in HCl to make stannous chloride, a drop of the yellow solution of gold (on filter paper or Qtip], and a drop of stannous chloride should turn a pretty purple if positive for gold.
This is a good time for you to learn to test for gold (and other metals), do a little more research on the processes used, and the different techniques used, learning to test these metals can be very important.
keeping us posted this is interesting.
This is a good time for you to learn to test for gold (and other metals), do a little more research on the processes used, and the different techniques used, learning to test these metals can be very important.
keeping us posted this is interesting.
Ok I tried this with a sliver of the part in one jar and a piece of a gold top processor in another. they both fizzed for a second or two, they both turned yellow then after a few minutes the truck part liquid turned yellow green, kinda like mountain dew. I made some stannous with tin solder, I dunked a q tip in each gold solution and put on paper, then dunked a qtip in stanous for each paper drop and added a drop to each wet spot and q tip on the paper. nothing happened with either sample. I perhaps did something wrong. the tin was still dissolving in the acid when I used the stanous. How long should the hcl bleach process take? maybe I did not wait long enough. There is a white precipitate in both jars. I am doing this outside and it is only about 6 degrees Celsius.
qst42know
Well-known member
Both samples must be completely dissolved before you bother testing.
If bleach is too strong (oxidizer in solution) or left in solution of your test, you will not get a positive test for the gold, as chlorine in solution will re-dissolve the gold, heat can remove the chlorine as gas.
The reason to completely dissolve is because if you have base metals in solution as elemental metal the gold will plate out of solution onto them, and solution may only contain base metals, you will not need much gold to test, as stannous chloride will test for minute amounts of gold, so a tiny sliver (really small piece) is all you will need to dissolve.
The white precipitant may be salt NaCl, and possibly some sodium chlorate salt from your solution; you can test to see if they dissolve in water later when you are done with this test.
Good job glondor, you are on the right track.
The reason to completely dissolve is because if you have base metals in solution as elemental metal the gold will plate out of solution onto them, and solution may only contain base metals, you will not need much gold to test, as stannous chloride will test for minute amounts of gold, so a tiny sliver (really small piece) is all you will need to dissolve.
The white precipitant may be salt NaCl, and possibly some sodium chlorate salt from your solution; you can test to see if they dissolve in water later when you are done with this test.
Good job glondor, you are on the right track.
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The ideal test for this part would be just a drop of nitric acid. If it does not react, the surface is most assuredly gold. If it is not, you'd get an instant blue reaction, along with some bubbling and gassing. The stannous chloride test is very reliable, but only when working with solutions. If you test a solid object, in spite of having dissolved some values, assuming they're present, they can easily be cemented, so you wouldn't witness a reaction. That might leave you to think that there is no gold when that may not be the case.
I really encourage folks to read Hoke where testing is concerned. It's really easy to master, but you must have a firm understanding of what to look for, and how to conduct a viable test. She provides exactly that. READ HOKE!
Harold
I really encourage folks to read Hoke where testing is concerned. It's really easy to master, but you must have a firm understanding of what to look for, and how to conduct a viable test. She provides exactly that. READ HOKE!
Harold
Ok I left the jars overnight and checked the results this morning. The metal had not dissolved. I added a little bleach to both samples and left it for an hour. No change so i added a little more acid and gave it a good stir. They both fizzed a bit and got cloudy with the stirred precipitate. As the jars settled the computer gold just settled and cleared but the truck part cloud put on a brilliant light show in the sunlight. For about 2 to3 minutes tiny golden sparkles swirled and settled out of the fluid however they vanished as they neared the bottom of the jar.I wanted to run and grab the camera but I could not stop watching. I gave it another good stir but it did not happen again. I dont know what happened but I sure would like to see it again. It is now 7 hours later and the metal in either jar still has not disolved. I am not sure what I am doing wrong I will try some more tomorrow. I do not have any nitric or I would do the test Harold recommends for sure. That is a bit too far up the learning curve for me right now, but I will source and acquire some in due time. I wish I could have got a picture for you all, it was quite something to see.
qst42know
Well-known member
The 10k gold test acid is dilute nitric.
OK did not have time to work on this today. However the metal is still in the jars, has not dissolved. There are crystals growing in both jars now. I think I have to start over. what is the ratio of hcl to bleach? Thanks for your time.
OK the light came on. acid clorox does not work well for depleting because the acid attacks the base metals and re plates the gold. It works well on fingers as there is no base metal present, I get it. Duhhh Sometimes I cannot see the forest for all the trees. What i need is just a sliver as butcher said, of the metal I suspect is gold. I will try to separate a thin sliver of the gold plate from the truck part and redo the experiment with a gold finger as a controll and a pure sliver as the suspect. I will try to shave a curl off the part as the plating sure seems thick enough.I would like to get the acid/clorox ratios right if some one could tell me. I have looked on the forum but there is so much info my head spins. Thanks Mike.
patnor1011
Well-known member
Why not to scrape small bit dissolve in hot HCl and tes with stannous? If item is plated maybe cell is answer.
