ok so i had these old phone and ethernet cable gold plated pins from the late 90's maybe half an ounce or so but they looked like they had some heavy gold plating on them forming little beads or bubbles of gold at the tips the size of pin heads. Well ive had them dissolving in Acid peroxide for two weeks now and they turned silvery/dark grey(im going to guesse the gold peeled off) but largely intact as if nothing had happened to them aside from a color change? ive googled all over the place to find their make up but cant seem to find it anywhere.
What in the world are ethernet cable pins made of
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solar_plasma
Well-known member
dark grey - probably kovar, possibly some dissolved gold plated back. Did you use HCl/H2O2 or did you use CuCl2 leach - actually this is a difference, which in the far past not always has been differentiated enough. HCl/H2O2 dissolves gold, propper CuCl2 leach not. Often we use "AP" in both cases, but depending on the context mostly we know what has been meant.
I used HCL/H2O2 but i was pretty sure it could not dissolve gold unless heated i keep it in fairly cool region of my house too. but the solution was dark green, therefore it had produced alot of copper chloride in the process and there were still many foils floating just 20% of the pins though.(mind you in two weeks time)solar_plasma said:
i called several ethernet equipment companies and all of them said it is a copper/aluminum alloy. but i soaked it in sodium hydroxide and got no reaction for an hour not even bubbles.
weird...
O yeah im having some weird stannous chloride reactions on a previous batch of Auric Chloride, basically add a drop of Auric Chloride (thats been mostly precitipitated) to a paper towel then dab A stannous chloride soaked q tip on it and it turns solid brown every time i kid you not; the color of chocolate...
Golddigger Greg
Well-known member
1) Get the chemicals out of your home.
2) Read the appropriate way to safely do this on this forum.
3) Read way more on this forum before you try anything further.
4) Thank me later.
2) Read the appropriate way to safely do this on this forum.
3) Read way more on this forum before you try anything further.
4) Thank me later.
they arent in my home and ive been at it for a year or so and lastly im on pretty much the last step before smelting .Golddigger Greg said:
not to be rude or anything but i have the burn marks and scars to not repeat mistakes again.
by in my house i mean in an isolated quarantined part with ventilation.
solar_plasma
Well-known member
Overused SMB? Excess SO2 gives a false positive. I ve never seen it chocolate brown, but a slight brownish would be common. Check also how a Pd positive looks.
solar_plasma said:
Yeah it was a false positive since i think i had a tiny copper wire dissolved in the mixture apparently, since the copper content was a little too high because of that and it gave me a false positive but all is well now i gave it a hcl wash and sulfuric so i decanted it and added some acetone to evaporate remaining water. should be pure gold dust in about an hour or two. thanks.
solar_plasma
Well-known member
I did never read or observe that copper gives a false positive with SnCl2. Though Cu++ might be reduced to Cu+, which probably could turn a green CuCl2 solution brown.
Use a spotplate (search purple stain) to determine, if a doubtful positive reaction with SnCl2 actually is gold. This works also well with coloured solutions.
Use a spotplate (search purple stain) to determine, if a doubtful positive reaction with SnCl2 actually is gold. This works also well with coloured solutions.
