Cargo Cult contraption or genius?

[glondor]

I think there is a movie based on the cargo cult phenomenon. I believe it is called 'The gods must be crazy" It is about a coke bottle discarded from a plane over a jungle and the effect it has on a tribe of indigenous tribal dwellers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080801/

 

[FrugalRefiner]

I think there is a movie based on the cargo cult phenomenon. I believe it is called 'The gods must be crazy" It is about a coke bottle discarded from a plane over a jungle and the effect it has on a tribe of indigenous tribal dwellers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080801/

I loved that movie about the "little bushman". While the bushmen weren't a true Cargo Cult, they believed the coke bottle must have come from the Gods. There was a lot of embedded social commentary within a cute movie.

And I think the original poster was spot on in referring to this device as a Cargo Cult contraption. It resembles a device that someone who understood refining might have used in their process. I can see the inventor of the device making a nice respirator out of some coconut shells and palm fronds. :lol:

Dave

 

[924T]

Howdy, butcher!

I scratched the hard drive heads base with a screwdriver, and base metal showed through; also, I was pretty
certain that the gold colored "plating" curled back a teensy bit when I scratched it.

I aim to pursue karat gold in the very near future, so I need an acid test kit anyway----------I'm going to
order the test acids tomorrow----------will that work to test this thing, or is there another way to verify
whether it's gold plated or not?

I could cut a small chunk off and put it into a NaOH solution------------if it is anodization, the NaOH should
dissolve the entire chunk?

If I can find my camera, I can shoot a picture and post it, if that would help.

thanks,

Mike

 

[butcher]

Sodium Hydroxide will dissolve the aluminum, you could scrape some of the coating from the aluminum into a test tube, aluminum is soft and a pocket knife, a file, or sand paper, should get enough of the coating to experiment with, after dissolved you can dilute aluminum hydroxide from any gold powder if any, after letting settle decant solution from test tube, a pipette can be used to remove liquid, then a little HCl and bleach, to dissolve any gold powders if they are there, a little heat to gas off chlorine gas then you can try the stannous chloride test to prove gold or just a gold colored anodized aluminum.

 

[924T]

Thanks again, butcher!

I got to thinking about something GSP had posted, about computer component manufacturers not getting too
slap happy about how much gold they put where (unless it was for gov't. purposes), and I'm suspecting that you're
right, that it's anodized Al, because there is no electrical contact purpose for it on this piece of hardware.

I'm going to test it anyway, just because I want to know the answer.

I've got 8 lbs. of NaOH due to arrive any day now, so I'll do it, and let you know what happens.

And, I've got to say that I admire your intensity, expertise and willingness to help, after reading about your
fall from a tall tower (I don't remember, microwave?) and sustaining heavy physical damage, and all the recovery
that must have taken-------------most people would have just hung their lives up.

So, double thanks for helping this rookie out!

Cheers,

Mike