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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Strange finding in flint

« on: 11/10/2012 01:37:29 »

Looks like a harmonica   Whatever it is, it sure looks cool. Nice find.

2

Chemistry / Re: Can teflon coated stir bar be used in hot Aqua Regia?

« on: 03/10/2012 02:05:20 »

Thanks for the information. I used it today in boiling aqua regia and it held up just fine. Yes Damocles, I am attempting to leach platinum grains. It looks like this will be very slow just as you said.

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Chemistry / Can teflon coated stir bar be used in hot Aqua Regia?

« on: 01/10/2012 20:49:03 »

Just wondering if I will ruin my PTFE coated stir bar if used in hot Aqua Regia

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Chemistry / Is gold chloride lighter than metalic gold

« on: 30/09/2012 20:11:22 »

What if I took a gram of pure gold and dissolved it into gold chloride. Next I removed the acid I used to dissolve the gold and was left with pure gold chloride. Would it still weigh a gram?

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Chemistry / Zinc+Oil+Aluminum=Heater?

« on: 25/09/2012 22:18:59 »

I recently read an article that claims an aluminum drum full of motor oil with a zinc rod suspended inside will produce heat for years. Is this a hoax or is there some truth to this?

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Chemistry / Re: Lead free fishing weights

« on: 22/09/2012 14:56:59 »

The problem was the tin did not dissolve in Muriatic acid. I placed a gram piece in a test tube with 15 mL of muriatic after I flattened it paper thin. When I was appling heat I noticed the metal wasn't reacting very much. After several minutes the acid evaporated leaving the flattened metal almost untouched. I tried a second time but added more muriatic as it evaporated and still the the same results. My reason for doing this was to make stannous chloride solution but I guess that will have to wait until I can find better tin. Do you think the reason it didn't dissolve was because I was using muriatic instead of pure HCL?

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Chemistry / What is in lead-free fishing weights?

« on: 22/09/2012 04:13:35 »

I was looking for some tin and buddy told me about lead free/tin fishing weights. I went and bought a pack. When I tried to dissolve in HCL I ran into nothing but problems. I called the manufacture and asked if this was pure tin and they told me yes. Some tin fishing weights advertise bismuth in the mix but this company does not. Their claim is tin. What simple experiment can I do to to see in there is bismuth mixed in the tin?

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Complementary Medicine / Re: I quit smoking the easy way

« on: 26/08/2012 01:29:13 »

I know some people here think that this method described is bogus but I have personally seen it work. Not for smoking but for pain. My father recovered from cancer but was left with severe headaches. The doctors tried several types of pain medication but nothing really helped. A family member got my father this CD which described how to do this method. It basically works for pain or any habit one has. My father tried it and got relief from his headaches. He quit taking pain medication altogether. It worked for a few years but he said that now it does not work as well. The point is that it did work at one point.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Best way to prepare slides

« on: 23/08/2012 06:55:27 »

I don't have access to German tech's. If I did I wouldn't be asking for knowledge here. You know of any German tech's that could help me?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What is the best way to prepare slides of sand?

« on: 18/08/2012 03:06:55 »

What is the best way to prepare a slide when it comes to sand? I'm trying to take the shine off of black sand when I view it at 100x. That shine can cause black sand to appear metallic.  I have tried is dry and wet but the shine is still there. Wet helps some but not completely. Any ideas would be helpful.

edit: Is there some sort of dye I can add to make sand show without a shine unless it is metallic?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Gold nuggets formed by water action?

« on: 17/08/2012 03:38:54 »

I want to add this to what I said. Sandstone is a hardening of sand wherever it happens to be. The sandstone I'm referring to could very well have placer grains touching each other and then the "winter weld" would make a nugget. I do admit that this is just my non educated guess.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Gold nuggets formed by water action?

« on: 17/08/2012 03:35:08 »

I want to add my observation. First off, I want to say that I have no scientific education that I base this on. I have worked an area that has free gold and ore close to each other. I have found the ore to have very fine gold and no nuggets. I have also found sandstone close by with very small nuggets if you could call it nuggets. The sandstone has a silicate crust. I believe that the weather plays a part in forming nuggets. The summer and winter environment will squeeze these sandstone rocks naturally. Since this happens I believe that the squeeze will mold these grains together to form nuggets. To picture what I'm saying, imagine that a very close clump of very fine gold grains inside a rock contracts in cold months. If you squeeze fine gold grains together they will weld together due to the malleability of gold. This is just an opinion based on my layman observations.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: what is this? I think it is a concretion but....

« on: 16/08/2012 05:15:25 »

I have found material similar to that. What I found turned out to be gypsum and it is a possibility that is what it is. Can you perform a hardness test? If you can then perform the test on the crystals inside the rock in the photo. You have a very nice specimen of something.

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Chemistry / Re: What makes Sodium Bicarbonate a miracle cleaner?

« on: 14/08/2012 00:21:36 »

It can also replace soda ash for use in swimming pools. It's far cheaper than soda ash too. It seems that there are many uses of sodium bicarbonate.

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Chemistry / Re: Need help with a strange mineral

« on: 12/08/2012 18:08:41 »

I have come to the conclusion that this material is zircon. I'm thinking that it does have an attraction for the table top surface which causes it to stick where it does. I have encountered zircon before that did not do this so I'm wondering what makes this zircon different?

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Chemistry / Re: Need help with a strange mineral

« on: 07/08/2012 02:21:35 »

That was an excellent article Boogie. I have it bookmarked and I'm sure that I will be referring to it for years to come. Thanks again.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: How do we separate ores from waste?

« on: 07/08/2012 02:06:24 »

You can dissolve the mercury with nitric. It would leave the gold behind while the mercury is in solution. You can also recover the mercury from the nitric by adding aluminum to the solution although I cant seem to get this to work for me. I have heard of people pressing the mercury through a type of cloth which filters out the gold.

Edit: Boogie was correct about the method the old-timers used to recover gold with mercury is illegal in a open circuit. He was also correct to say that recovery with mercury should not be attempted by someone new.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: How do we separate ores from waste?

« on: 03/08/2012 04:50:49 »

Everything Boogie said was correct except one part, using mercury to recover gold is not illegal. With the right permits this can be done legally on a large scale. There are other ways to separate gold from mercury besides vaporizing the mercury. I actually find mercury to be a very productive method for separating gold from ore concentrate. The key to this is safety for the environment and yourself. When done correctly this method proves to be the best way in my opinion.

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Chemistry / Re: Need help with a strange mineral

« on: 02/08/2012 00:27:42 »

You made some very good points. I wasn't aware of the melting point of zircon. I do understand that it is a good possibility that it is zircon but I'm not convinced yet. The gold is in the 200 mesh range and is granular in shape. The material in question is 200 mesh and mostly the same shape. A shaker table works a little different than a sluice which leads me to believe that it's denser than gold. Zircon should ride below the gold on the table. I will soon have enough for a density test and will let you know the results. I really appreciate the advice and leads I have received here.

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Chemistry / Re: Need help with a strange mineral

« on: 01/08/2012 20:42:11 »

This will better describe the material. It appears to be almost transparent sand with a yellow tent. It has a luster that I have not seen before. The reason I know that is is denser that gold is because where it rides on my shaker table. It stays at the top above the gold. I tried to smelt with two different type of fluxes. Here is something strange, it doesn't melt at 2100. It still appears in the glass of the smelt. I tried to melt without flux and still the same thing. It does seem to change to a reddish tent after the applied heat. I will try to post a picture soon