michelegray25
Michele
We watched Cody making uranium metal from ore today on Youtube. He actually said that he should have been safer in the video, so he knows he is putting himself at risk. I just hope that nobody copies what he is doing.
Mercury Sluice
- Thread starter Sunwell
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I've taught myself a significant fraction of the chemistry I know from home experiments, including making a few drops of my own nitroglycerin maybe 8 years ago. Not an experiment I ever plan on repeating, granted, and I learned a lesson about ear protection when I set off 3 drops with a hammer! I'm pretty happy to live in a place where I can access a variety of chemicals for my own tinkering - otherwise I wouldn't know much more than is in textbooks, my job, and school labs, none of which goes far enough for a hands-on learner like me.
There are dangers involved and I do think Cody and other Youtube channels do a disservice when they disregard safety. Still, I'd much rather live in a world where people can still learn science on their own and at their own risk, than a world that's a tiny bit safer but where the only ways to learn experimental chemistry are in a university or a job.
To clarify this experiment is not about the sluicing action more than it is about gravitational separation through the elementary topic of specific gravity. Mercury doesn't have a very good efficiency ratio at amalgamation, and again isn't really the true purpose of this experiment.
After some consideration I think a better route would be to use nuclear reactor coolant called LBE. LBE is lead-bismuth eutectic, and has a low melting point of around 255F. It has a density of around 10.5 cm3 which should filter out a lot of
At 10.5 cm3 we should separate all of the annoying metals such as impure silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, etc.
Since LBE doesn't begin off gassing until around 1650F this should provide for better safety, and should allow me to try different separation methods.
Now that we don't have Amalgamation on our side helping prevent surface tension issues I do believe that this solution will have to be slurried, or this might be solved by the LBE being molten. The concentrates could undergo a brief acid bath pre separation to remove any films that could cause flotation.
Most elements lose density with more heat because of the molecular separation, but since out melting point of LBE is so low we should avoid any of the concentrates dropping in value.
After some consideration I think a better route would be to use nuclear reactor coolant called LBE. LBE is lead-bismuth eutectic, and has a low melting point of around 255F. It has a density of around 10.5 cm3 which should filter out a lot of
At 10.5 cm3 we should separate all of the annoying metals such as impure silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, etc.
Since LBE doesn't begin off gassing until around 1650F this should provide for better safety, and should allow me to try different separation methods.
Now that we don't have Amalgamation on our side helping prevent surface tension issues I do believe that this solution will have to be slurried, or this might be solved by the LBE being molten. The concentrates could undergo a brief acid bath pre separation to remove any films that could cause flotation.
Most elements lose density with more heat because of the molecular separation, but since out melting point of LBE is so low we should avoid any of the concentrates dropping in value.
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I am sorry.
But does not gold and mercury share an intimate relationship.
Very readily, forming a gold and mercury amalgam almost instantly at a room temperature?
So I am somewhat dumbfounder at your suggestion to use it in gravity separation.
That would necessitate all elements reaming separate in nature, while being sorted by their specific gravity.
That simply will not happen with mercury.
You will form an amalgam to start and eventually an alloy if you run it long enough.
But does not gold and mercury share an intimate relationship.
Very readily, forming a gold and mercury amalgam almost instantly at a room temperature?
So I am somewhat dumbfounder at your suggestion to use it in gravity separation.
That would necessitate all elements reaming separate in nature, while being sorted by their specific gravity.
That simply will not happen with mercury.
You will form an amalgam to start and eventually an alloy if you run it long enough.
Yes exactly, I'm essentially using the elements specific gravity as a sift per se. Amalgams of lighter metals will wash away over the top, and amalgams of heavier metals, and heavier non amalgamable metals will fall below the surface of the mercury. Or heavier metals that are encapsulated, or are not able to be amalgamed due to oxidization from chlorides, oxides, sulfides, tellurides, etc. would also fall below the surface even though their host mineral such as pyrite may be lighter than the encapsulated metal. This would in theory be like a periodic table filter based on an elementary principal.
Of course the amalgams would be dissolved off in sealed lab equipment with Aqua Regia, (I prefer the reverse equation 3:1 Nitric:Hydrochloric) as it's proven to have significantly higher yields with finer golds, and distill off the mercury.
Of course the amalgams would be dissolved off in sealed lab equipment with Aqua Regia, (I prefer the reverse equation 3:1 Nitric:Hydrochloric) as it's proven to have significantly higher yields with finer golds, and distill off the mercury.
I have a question. Where did you get the idea that this is both an effective and safe procedure for the recovery of gold? I used to know a few people in Jackson and Josephine Counties that used mercury extensively in gold recovery. All are now dead. Each suffered, to different degrees, and died of heavy metal poisoning from prolonged exposure to mercury.
Have fun with loss of kidney and liver function, early cognitive decline, and a host of other symptoms.
Time for more coffee.
Have fun with loss of kidney and liver function, early cognitive decline, and a host of other symptoms.
Time for more coffee.
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The last thing you want in gravity separation is a "Viscus" medium to work with. Mercury would run over riffles much like a thick mud, contaminating everything it comes into contact with.
And the more metallic elements the mercury alloys with, the thicker it would become.
Light metals would not flow over the top, they would most likely simply stick to the surface.
There were a number of systems that used a mercury trap in conjunction with a sluice.
You can still easily tell where they were located in England by the very large spoil heaps left behind that are still too toxic to allow people to visit.
I am trying to get permission to visit some of the sites in Devon to retrieve sample's to work on but even after five years the environmental agency still will not give me access to the sites, that is how toxic they have been left.
I don't understand this.
Mercury sticks on gold better than dog poo under shoes.
What about lessor forms of gold? What if there is an oxide, chloride, sulfide, etc, layer? What if your ore has telluride in it? The production efficiency of of a mercury mine is around 34%. Rock crusher, ball mill type operation.
