Strong Reaction with HCL?

[metatp]

I have a question that is probably dumb, but I could not find the information on this forum.

What metals react strongly in HCL, but looks like a silver contact?

I bought a few silver contacts. I usually clean them up in HCL right after weighing them and running a strong magnet over them first. In this batch, I had one of the pieces start to react quickly in HCL. It dissolved in minutes while leaving a black carbon like residual. I am trying to figure out watch metal this was. It was not magnetic, but it was white like silver. Tin did not react so violently. Even Iron I had in the past did not react as violently.

Just curious. If I had a lot of the, I am sure the acid would come close to foaming over.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Could it have been aluminum?

 

[metatp]

Could it have been aluminum?

Possibly. I will test a piece and see if I get the same reaction. I did not weigh the individual pieces, so I am not sure of the approximate density.

HTpatch

 

[metatp]

Could it have been aluminum?

Possibly. I will test a piece and see if I get the same reaction. I did not weigh the individual pieces, so I am not sure of the approximate density.

Yes, that is exactly what it was. I guess I never had any aluminum in my mixes before.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Palladium]

What was the other metal ?

 

[metatp]

What was the other metal ?

The other metal was silver. I tested after soaking in HCL.

 

[Palladium]

Good, the reason i ask is i have about 5 lbs of these little circlular contacts that came out of some phone network fuses that are about the size of a pencil and 1/4 inch thick. I dropped one in hcl the other day and forgot about it until today. When i looked at it today i figured the black was silver. I'll test it tomorrow to make sure. When i run them i'll let you know the ratio.

 

[metatp]

Good, the reason i ask is i have about 5 lbs of these little circlular contacts that came out of some phone network fuses that are about the size of a pencil and 1/4 inch thick. I dropped one in hcl the other day and forgot about it until today. When i looked at it today i figured the black was silver. I'll test it tomorrow to make sure. When i run them i'll let you know the ratio.

What I had was only one with aluminum out of about 300. It was about 1/2 inch in diameter and 1/16 inch thick.

 

[Harold_V]

Could it have been aluminum?

That was my thought, too.

Test aluminum with nitric acid. It does not dissolve, but does so readily in HCl. It is also very conspicuous due to its light weight.

Harold