Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Ore identification

xfusion44 - 21-2-2016 at 13:03

Hi!

I've got a small bottle of unknown ore from an old physics set (you know, like the one of those sets they've used to teach physics in school). First thing I've tried was the "magnet test" and it partially was magnetic. Then I've tried to melt it with the butane torch, but it just started to glow, like normal iron would. And when I removed the flame, it was smoking a bit - probably some other compound with lower melting point. However, after that I've tried with magnet again, but just on the piece that was heated before - and it wasn't magnetic! So, it's probably some other metal, with some iron or other magnetic metal impurities. I didn't yet measured its density, but it's pretty heavy. How does it look like? Well, see for yourself, on the picture, below...

Thanks ;)

IMG_20160221_213505.jpg - 1.3MB

xfusion44 - 21-2-2016 at 13:06

Could it be cadmium ore?

Edit: no, too low melting point...

[Edited on 21-2-2016 by xfusion44]

diddi - 21-2-2016 at 14:00

it has galena and quartz for sure, but there may be other material. the pics are not good enough to tell.

galena is a Pb ore btw, so maybe don't go sniffing those fumes :)

[Edited on 21-2-2016 by diddi]

xfusion44 - 21-2-2016 at 15:45

Quote: Originally posted by diddi  
it has galena and quartz for sure, but there may be other material. the pics are not good enough to tell.

galena is a Pb ore btw, so maybe don't go sniffing those fumes :)

[Edited on 21-2-2016 by diddi]


Oh, thanks for that. BTW, did you click on the picture to make it larger? Also, after you do that, you can also zoom in by clicking on it again or scrolling up, whilst holding ctrl button. If that's not good enough, I could try to make another shot.

Best regards!

[Edited on 21-2-2016 by xfusion44]

diddi - 21-2-2016 at 16:03

in mineral ID one needs to be able to handle the piece and use a magnifier (10X or more) crystals may be small and there are often mixtures. from your photo there is some good galena crystals, but a lot of the grey material looks different, but I can't tell for sure. the specimen looks likes it comes from Bulgaria? if that is the case I can summise about the other possible minerals present.



ID.jpg - 519kB

xfusion44 - 21-2-2016 at 19:08

Quote: Originally posted by diddi  
in mineral ID one needs to be able to handle the piece and use a magnifier (10X or more) crystals may be small and there are often mixtures. from your photo there is some good galena crystals, but a lot of the grey material looks different, but I can't tell for sure. the specimen looks likes it comes from Bulgaria? if that is the case I can summise about the other possible minerals present.





Oh, looks like you know what you're talking about ;) I don't know where exactly it comes from, but it's almost definitely from Europe, somewhere... Interesting to see the compound with very metallic appearance. I was almost sure it was metal. So, since it's mostly galena, what could I use it for? I see it was used for IR sensors, but are there some other interesting uses for it?

Thanks ;)

Best regards!

crystal grower - 21-2-2016 at 23:35

Maybe this should be in " Name that rock topic."
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=28664

Sulaiman - 22-2-2016 at 00:09

Galena is one of the original materials for making a 'cats whisker' detector for rectification of am rf signals to audio ...
You could make a "crystal set" ... quite a fun weekend project

diddi - 22-2-2016 at 04:42

Galena is PbS. it was smelted in ancient times by placing in a fire and collecting the lead from the ash. not many uses apart from Pb production that I know of. the crystals are nice, and easy to cleave to expose a clean set of surfaces. if stored dry it will retain its silver shine.

and yes there is a thread on rocks and minerals (and things along the railway line). and also another on rock "molesting" you may search for also

xfusion44 - 22-2-2016 at 21:10

Ok, thank you all! :)