Help with stannous chloride

[phillips2316]

Having issues making stannous chloride, combined 30ml HCl and a gram of tin shot and there seems to be no reaction after 3hrs.. I was told it takes about 4 but the liquid is still clear...help

 

[Claudie]

Having issues making stannous chloride, combined 30ml HCl and a gram of tin shot and there seems to be no reaction after 3hrs.. I was told it takes about 4 but the liquid is still clear...help

What percentage is the HCL you are using? Where did the Tin shot come from?
The liquid will remain clear, but most of the shot should dissolve. Do you see any bubbles rising from it?

 

[jason_recliner]

+1'ing on Claudie's answer.

I made some Stannous Chloride myself this weekend. personally, I have never used tin powder so I don't know what you will see. But instead, I used a "99.7% * tin, 0.3% copper" solder rod, hammered into a foil. It may take several hours or overnight to dissolve enough, but the solution should stay perfectly clear. Much of your metal may not even dissolve. My foil still looks intact, though the SnCl2 is ready and confirmed working on some gold in solution**. Bubbles appeared on my foil metal within minutes.

* SnCl2 will test positive for gold in all sorts of mixed solutions. Therefore, slight contaminants are not a problem.
** I test both ways: For gold in solution using stannous chloride, for working stannous chloride using gold in solution.

 

[solar_plasma]

Heating a little will force the reaction.

 

[Harold_V]

** I test both ways: For gold in solution using stannous chloride, for working stannous chloride using gold in solution.

Are readers paying attention to this comment? If not, they should be..

Harold

 

[rickbb]

** I test both ways: For gold in solution using stannous chloride, for working stannous chloride using gold in solution.

Are readers paying attention to this comment? If not, they should be..

Harold

Amen.

Keeping a small amount of both stannous chloride and gold chloride to test each against each other is a VERY helpful thing to do. One of the first things I leaned with this hobby and from this site.

Rick

 

[byte-tech]

+1'ing on Claudie's answer.

** I test both ways: For gold in solution using stannous chloride, for working stannous chloride using gold in solution.

Please excuse my lack of proper English but it is not the same?
or better yet can you explain me the difference between both?

Thank you.

Uresti.

 

[Harold_V]

+1'ing on Claudie's answer.

** I test both ways: For gold in solution using stannous chloride, for working stannous chloride using gold in solution.

Please excuse my lack of proper English but it is not the same?
or better yet can you explain me the difference between both?

Thank you.

Uresti.

When a test is performed with a gold solution using stannous chloride, it confirms two things. One is that there is gold in the solution, and the other thing is that the stannous chloride solution is good. The test is performed with a solution KNOWN to contain a specific amount of gold (a gold standard solution), so the reaction from the stannous chloride is known and understood. If that identical reaction isn't witnessed when the stannous chloride is tested, that's an indication that the TESTING solution (the stannous chloride) has diminished in ability, and may even be useless. It is important that you understand that stannous chloride degrades with time, and eventually ceases to function.

Such a test should ALWAYS be performed when a solution is unknown, and there is no gold reaction when tested. The test (using a standard gold solution) confirms the condition of the solution.

So, yes, they are both the same thing, but how they are applied can confirm more than one thing. If you don't understand the significance of this concept, you should continue reading until you do. Otherwise, you are subject to performing tests that may or may not indicate what you think they do.

Harold

Edit:
I would add, you should also become familiar with testing for gold by other means (using a small crystal or a drop of ferrous sulfate). Testing is every bit as important as are the refining procedures you will learn. Without a firm understanding of them, you process blindly. That is never acceptable.

 

[jason_recliner]

Hi Uresti. I'll see if I can be really clear.

A stannous chloride test is like a pregnancy test - if it provides a positive result, you know you're pregnant. But a negative result doesn't necessarily mean you're not.

Subject to a few possible causes of false positives, which I won't go into, stannous chloride shows if you do have gold in solution. But if the stannous has expired or is otherwise not working, it will not show gold even if there is gold present.

This is the issue I faced on several of batches: I'm getting a negative for gold. How do I know if my stannous chloride is even working? I need to test whether my stannous chloride testing solution can display gold, by using it to test something I know has gold in it, and make sure I get that good strong purple.

There are reasons why perfectly good stannous chloride will still not display gold, even though gold is present. In my case, too much nitrate in solution which stops the gold coming out of solution.

[Edit: Oops. Harold just beat me to the reply. And his was better.]

 

[byte-tech]

Thank you Harold and Jason, all is clear now.

Next time ill ask my local dealer for some ferrous sulfate crystals and try and learn that method to test, Ty.


Uresti.