HCL 36%

[pimpneightez]

I had some small magnetic pieces of gold plated communications scrap. I put it in straight HCL to see if I could get a foil off. I did not heat it and left it for some time. I finally had a couple pieces of floating foils. I kept them in there for another couple weeks and the foils disappeard. My question is: I thought gold would not oxidize in straight HCL where did it go? After that I dropped a small piece of brass into the solution. It turned a dark color then after that it turned light green and digested the brass. I now have these cool crystal formations at the bottom of the HCL. what is this the brass?

 

[Geo]

have you used the container its in for any other process? if you used it to make an AR solution it could still have nitrates on the glass.cross contamination happens even when we are careful.

 

[pimpneightez]

have you used the container its in for any other process? if you used it to make an AR solution it could still have nitrates on the glass.cross contamination happens even when we are careful.

No, It was a brand new plastic container. The only thing I put in it were the two small test pieces of gold plated phone parts (one item was the fe-male part where the phone plugs into and the other test piece was the male end that you have to dig out of the plastic connection. I see where your coming from though. could it be it wasn't gold plated? I did not test it because I was pretty sure it was plated. It did have a foil floating around for a couple weeks. Could it have just broken apart and un-seeable because it was so small?

 

[Geo]

ahhh, plating on cell phones is so thin that it seldom comes off in foils.it breaks down in pieces so small you can lose it while looking right at it.your sample is so small it could be there and you still cant see it. unless you poured it out, then its still there. if you have a jewelers loupe, let the solution settle for a few hours and gently pour solution off stopping to let everything settle, even if you cant see it.when you get to the last drop, capture it on a filter and look at it with the loupe.

 

[pimpneightez]

ahhh, plating on cell phones is so thin that it seldom comes off in foils.it breaks down in pieces so small you can lose it while looking right at it.your sample is so small it could be there and you still cant see it. unless you poured it out, then its still there. if you have a jewelers loupe, let the solution settle for a few hours and gently pour solution off stopping to let everything settle, even if you cant see it.when you get to the last drop, capture it on a filter and look at it with the loupe.

Makes sense. It was not cell phone. It was the old school corded phone. that thing that plugs into the bottem of the phone and the other end in the wall. what is the blu-green crystalene structure. Im thinking its some type of copper-crystal.

 

[Geo]

sounds like copper.

 

[pimpneightez]

sounds like copper.

I was under the impression that copper would not break down in in HCL am I missing something?

 

[Geo]

you said all you put in the solution was two pieces of magnetic scrap and a piece of brass. steel turns black in hcl and brass is copper and zinc. so unless you have a gremlin running around and putting stuff in your solution it has to be copper.maybe the zinc in the brass caused the copper to create these crystals. without a picture its hard to make a guess and even with one it still would be a guess. the next time you try to cement values, use a piece of just regular copper pipe.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

sounds like copper.

I was under the impression that copper would not break down in in HCL am I missing something?

Given enough time and patience the HCL will dissolve the copper.

 

[pimpneightez]

sounds like copper.

I was under the impression that copper would not break down in in HCL am I missing something?

Given enough time and patience the HCL will dissolve the copper.

So if Im patient enough I can put all my gold plated pins in an HCL bath. shouldn't this eventually just leave the gold foils behind.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Yes, but if you are going to do a bunch of pin's you should search for the acid peroxide method and use that with an air bubbler and some heat.

 

[Geo]

hcl alone will not dissolve copper, but it will dissolve copper oxide. place a piece of clean copper in hcl and given enough time a slight percentage will react to the minute amounts of oxygen in the solution to create a slight amount of copper oxide.this copper oxide will then convert to copper chloride which will dissolve copper.its a self replicating process that will eventually digest the piece of copper and leave you with a green solution.now that the solution is copper chloride and given enough time to evaporate enough solution, the copper will precipitate out as green copper chloride crystals. as you can see, this is a long explanation for a process that is very simple.

 

[pimpneightez]

hcl alone will not dissolve copper, but it will dissolve copper oxide. place a piece of clean copper in hcl and given enough time a slight percentage will react to the minute amounts of oxygen in the solution to create a slight amount of copper oxide.this copper oxide will then convert to copper chloride which will dissolve copper.its a self replicating process that will eventually digest the piece of copper and leave you with a green solution.now that the solution is copper chloride and given enough time to evaporate enough solution, the copper will precipitate out as green copper chloride crystals. as you can see, this is a long explanation for a process that is very simple.

MIND=BLOWN