ElectricAngel
Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Messages
- 14
As we all know, nitric is hard to get in the USA, and expensive to boot. (I wonder if Canada offers me any respite? I'm going there soon, and could make a trip to a supply store if there is any hope of $1 a litre niric.)
Anyway, I read Hoke. She mentions that it is possible to treat inquarted gold with sulfuric instead of nitric acid. From about page 64, we read:
"When very large lots, running 100 ounces and over, are treated, sulphuric acid may be chosen; but it is suitable only when the added metal is silver, when the copper content of the resulting button is 10% or less, and when the lead content is low. Sulphuric acid is cheaper than nitric, but more unpleasant to handle. Since your purpose at this time is to learn the various modifications of these processes, we suggest that you now take a button in which silver is the added metal, which con-tains little or no lead, and in which copper runs not over 10%, and treat it with sulphuric acid instead of nitric acid."
Intriguingly, she adds: "Returning now to the gold in the porcelain dish: wash it well,to remove all sulphates of copper or silver. As we said before, this gold may be as pure as you require. The exact purity will depend mainly upon the nature of the metal you started with, partly on your skill and patience, and partly on the composition of the button you obtained by inquartation. Thus, if the gold in your button is too high, say 30% or so, the gold you recover will be of doubtful purity. (That is why some workers make up their buttons with a gold content of only 10% or 15%, although this means added ex-pense in acid and time, and rarely pays.)"
SO, has anyone here followed Hoke and inquarted gold with pure silver, and then used sulfuric to generate gold of high purity?
I read another post where two inquartations (using nitric on the first) were suggested: the second was to inquart the gold with zinc, and then digest the zinc with HCl, leaving behind .999 gold. But zinc boils at a temperature below where gold melts, so I have no idea how one would inquart nearly-pure gold with zinc.
Anyway, I read Hoke. She mentions that it is possible to treat inquarted gold with sulfuric instead of nitric acid. From about page 64, we read:
"When very large lots, running 100 ounces and over, are treated, sulphuric acid may be chosen; but it is suitable only when the added metal is silver, when the copper content of the resulting button is 10% or less, and when the lead content is low. Sulphuric acid is cheaper than nitric, but more unpleasant to handle. Since your purpose at this time is to learn the various modifications of these processes, we suggest that you now take a button in which silver is the added metal, which con-tains little or no lead, and in which copper runs not over 10%, and treat it with sulphuric acid instead of nitric acid."
Intriguingly, she adds: "Returning now to the gold in the porcelain dish: wash it well,to remove all sulphates of copper or silver. As we said before, this gold may be as pure as you require. The exact purity will depend mainly upon the nature of the metal you started with, partly on your skill and patience, and partly on the composition of the button you obtained by inquartation. Thus, if the gold in your button is too high, say 30% or so, the gold you recover will be of doubtful purity. (That is why some workers make up their buttons with a gold content of only 10% or 15%, although this means added ex-pense in acid and time, and rarely pays.)"
SO, has anyone here followed Hoke and inquarted gold with pure silver, and then used sulfuric to generate gold of high purity?
I read another post where two inquartations (using nitric on the first) were suggested: the second was to inquart the gold with zinc, and then digest the zinc with HCl, leaving behind .999 gold. But zinc boils at a temperature below where gold melts, so I have no idea how one would inquart nearly-pure gold with zinc.