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ScienceSquirrel
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One thing is for sure, it is not tungsten.
Looking at this graph you can see that it would have been valuable in the 1960's and 70's but worth nothing like what it would be worth today;
http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/hd1/english/graphs/line_platinum.h...
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by ScienceSquirrel]
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blogfast25
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Actually, lab wares made of Pt are very rare. And Pt crucibles are usually minimised pieces of Pt foil.
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blogfast25
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An Osmium alloy?
Which cylindrical part (an axel?) would require the chemical resistance of Pt/Ir? And how could such a part go 'walkies', left in the basement by a
'forgetful' previous owner, even at today's prices????
I just hope someone's not playing an elaborate prank here! 
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by blogfast25]
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by ScienceSquirrel]
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phlogiston
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Admittely, I have a biased view, working in a laboratory where platinum items are occasionally used, but platinum items do exist and have to be
manufactured from sheet/foil and bar stock somewhere.
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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ScienceSquirrel
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Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  |
An Osmium alloy?
Which cylindrical part (an axel?) would require the chemical resistance of Pt/Ir? And how could such a part go 'walkies', left in the basement by a
'forgetful' previous owner, even at today's prices????
I just hope someone's not playing an elaborate prank here!
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by blogfast25]
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by ScienceSquirrel] |
Oops, I have not edited your post, I meant to quote it and clicked the edit button instead.
It could be a hoax but the pictures, calculated densities, etc seem very real.
Maybe he could sit it on a balance with a ruler close to it to give scale and photograph the whole she bang, that would leave no shadow of doubt as to
if he is telling the truth.
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blogfast25
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Squirrel:
It could be true of course, even the Pt bit. Weird stuff happens.
If it really is so valuable the previous owner would have been a thief: no way would such a part change hands w/o a crime being committed. That then
brings up the question, why didn't he cash in on the loot? Why leave it in the basement of a house for the next owners to find? All truly bizarre, if
you ask me.
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by blogfast25]
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Erbium_Iodine_Carbon
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The guy who previously owned the house was actually building it himself and was almost finished when he died. The house is modelled after some English
estate, obviously scaled down though. When he died his daughters who lived elsewhere sold the house for cheap and my parents were lucky to buy it 20
years ago. They always joke about finding "the diamonds" hidden in here because of the man's eccentricity. I live in a small town close to a
government funded nuclear research plant that started in the 50's. I have no idea how or why such a piece might have escaped but if it is platinum I
won't be complaining!
Edit: @plante1999:
Can you explain further the test involving ammonium chloride and aqua regia? I might try that.
I'll get a picture up as soon as I can though; the other 2 were taken with my webcam which is obviously not great quality.
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by Erbium_Iodine_Carbon]
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Eddygp
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This is a bit... uhh, strange. However, if it's platinum, osmium, rhenium or iridium (luck?) that is worth MORE than its weight in gold O.O
there may be bugs in gfind
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plante1999
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If this is platinum, later you will want to kill me but.... Cut a small piece of your rod. Then make poor man aqua regia using, in lets say 40ml 20%
HCl and 10g ammonium nitrate (Not stochiometric amount, but work very well) heat the solution to 50 degree C and add your piece, after few thent of
minute it will be disolved. filter id and ad an ammonium chloride solution, If there is even a small amount of platinum a yellow precipitate will
form. (NH4)2PtCL6
If you want I can give you all the other test to detect a PGM. Rhodium/iridium/rhenium/ruthenium etc....But keep use only 1/10 of your sol. each time.
If you want other test send my a U2U and I will be pleased to explain you other test.
Maybe it is a sort of uranium/thorium rod with some cladding of top?
[Edited on 22-6-2012 by plante1999]
I never asked for this.
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blogfast25
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plante: U and Th aren't dense enough...
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phlogiston
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You know you are a mad scientist when... you find yourself thinking of all the great experiments you could do with such a piece of metal (rather than
the money it would trade for).
It is also a great stroke of luck that you found it, rather than someone who would simply discard a pile of what might look like junk.
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by phlogiston |
It is also a great stroke of luck that you found it, rather than someone who would simply discard a pile of what might look like junk.
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Or hand it over to a scrap metal merchant who would think he'd died and gone to heaven!
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Wizzard
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I think all those valuable metals (also W, but excluding platinum) should be able to be chipped with a rap on the cut corner from a hammer.
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AndersHoveland
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The hue of the metal does not look like platinum or tungsten. It does look similar to rhenium.
Here is picture of a rod of the element rhenium for comparison:
http://www.espimetals.com/images/rhenium_rod250_0182_wm_400....
Rhenium has been used in nuclear reactors as a barrier between the uranium fuel pellets and the niobium alloy cladding. Rhenium has the second highest
melting point of the elements, and is twice as strong as tungsten.
Here is a list of the elements that are denser than lead (not including the highly radioactive ones). Values are in grams per cubic cm.
Lead 11.342
Thorium 11.72
Thallium 11.85
Palladium 12.020
Ruthenium 12.37
Rhodium 12.41
Hafnium 13.31
Mercury 13.5336
Protactinium 15.37
Tantalum 16.654
Uranium 18.95 (radioactive)
Tungsten 19.25
Gold 19.282
Plutonium 19.84 (radioactive)
Rhenium 21.02
Platinum 21.46
Osmium 22.610
Iridium 22.650
[Edited on 23-6-2012 by AndersHoveland]
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Eddygp
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http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/rheniumpricesusdollars.html or Chemistry... I personaly love perrhenates, because of their similarities with
permanganates. However, I have never had any significant (>5g) of them and I haven't had any rhenium. I guess I am not lucky.
there may be bugs in gfind
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by AndersHoveland |
Rhenium has been used in nuclear reactors as a barrier between the uranium fuel pellets and the niobium alloy cladding. Rhenium has the second highest
melting point of the elements, and is twice as strong as tungsten.
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Are you sure about that? Nowadays it seems mainly Zirconium alloys are used for nuclear fuel cladding.
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unionised
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I think you should wait until Archimedes has finished his bath, then ask him.
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Eddygp
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@unionised The density was already calculated, wasn't it?
there may be bugs in gfind
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plante1999
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A bath of aqua regia you want to say...
[Edited on 23-6-2012 by plante1999]
I never asked for this.
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unionised
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Yes, but the measurement of the volume is a bit questionable (it depends on how accurately machined the item is for a start).
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DerAlte
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@Unionised
If the hand in the photo is a human male hand, I don’t think the poster’s estimate of volume is that far off!
I believe the elements are actually bolonium and bullshittium, well known in Lalaland. Their densities are imaginary, approximately 22i and 19i
respectively, where i= SQRT(-1). They are made from Al and Fe by a mental transformation process, aided by hallucinogenic.
Repost this thread in Whimsy, since we do not have a section for Science Fiction, although many recent posts seem to qualify.
Regards, Der Alte
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unionised
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| Quote: Originally posted by DerAlte | @Unionised
If the hand in the photo is a human male hand, I don’t think the poster’s estimate of volume is that far off!
I believe the elements are actually bolonium and bullshittium, well known in Lalaland. Their densities are imaginary, approximately 22i and 19i
respectively, where i= SQRT(-1). They are made from Al and Fe by a mental transformation process, aided by hallucinogenic.
Repost this thread in Whimsy, since we do not have a section for Science Fiction, although many recent posts seem to qualify.
Regards, Der Alte
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Any evidence for that rant?
Anyway, a better measurement of the volume might indicate that the density is 19 or so, rather than 21.5. Tungsten is a whole lot more plausible than
any of the platinum group metals. (especially if you already found one lump of tungsten there.)
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by DerAlte | @Unionised
If the hand in the photo is a human male hand, I don’t think the poster’s estimate of volume is that far off!
I believe the elements are actually bolonium and bullshittium, well known in Lalaland. Their densities are imaginary, approximately 22i and 19i
respectively, where i= SQRT(-1). They are made from Al and Fe by a mental transformation process, aided by hallucinogenic.
Repost this thread in Whimsy, since we do not have a section for Science Fiction, although many recent posts seem to qualify.
Regards, Der Alte
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Wicked, man! 
Unionised's point on density stands: accurate measurement of volume may not have taken place yet.
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DerAlte
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unionised wrote: Any evidence for that rant?
None directly. It was not a rant, merely a little piece of satire based upon the actual likelihood of it actually being true, which is vanishingly
small. Have you ever seen a piece of machined pure tungsten? What use would it be? Carbide tipped drills are very useful, however. People do
not have about $9000 worth of shiny Pt rod or large billets of W in their basements. Dream on. Accurate volume measurement is easy, done with rule and
micrometer. It's the weight that unlikely, and the composition...
Der Alte
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Eddygp
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OK, put the rhenium/whatever-it-is in a beaker with x cm3 of water. The beaker should now contain (x+y)cm3 of water+metal. x+y - x = y. y = volume of
metal
z mass in grams/y = z/y g/cm3
there may be bugs in gfind
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