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Science Forum Index » Chemistry Forum » Can you CHANGE one element into another?? Or DESTROY...
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| NoVA101... |
 Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:50 am |
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I have some "complex" ore. It contains Gold, Platinum, Palladium and
Rhodium, that I have been told is very tightly chemically bonded. I
was told I can only extract SOME of the elements, but the others would
have to be DESTROYED in the process.
Is that even possible? If you use enough heat or chemicals, can you
actually destroy elements?? (I mean within reason, in a lab, not in a
nuclear accelerator, on in the middle of the sun or anything!)
I did see something called "Aqua Regia" that can dissolve Gold and
Platinum. I assume the Gold (for example) simply ends up being bonded
to something else, it is not in fact destroyed or changed in any way.
Put an ounce of Gold in a beaker with some Aqua Regia, and there is
STILL an ounce there, no matter what form it might be in. Is that
correct??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia |
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| dlzc... |
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:17 am |
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Dear NoVA101:
On Jun 4, 11:50 am, NoVA101 <NoVA... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: I have some "complex" ore. It contains Gold, Platinum,
Palladium and Rhodium, that I have been told is very
tightly chemically bonded. I was told I can only
... probably the word "economically" fits here ...
Quote: extract SOME of the elements, but the others would
have to be DESTROYED in the process.
Not unless bombardment with neutrons or high energy gamma radiation is
involved. Maybe the word "refractory" fits better here, rather than
"destroyed".
Quote: Is that even possible? If you use enough heat or
chemicals, can you actually destroy elements??
If you heat the stuff up to 25 million degrees, you can probably get
some interesting breakdowns. Other than that, no destruction will
occur.
...
Quote: Put an ounce of Gold in a beaker with some
Aqua Regia, and there is STILL an ounce there,
no matter what form it might be in. Is that
correct??
Correct.
David A. Smith |
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| Madalch... |
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:10 am |
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Guest
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On Jun 4, 11:50 am, NoVA101 <NoVA... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: I have some "complex" ore. It contains Gold, Platinum, Palladium and
Rhodium, that I have been told is very tightly chemically bonded. I
was told I can only extract SOME of the elements, but the others would
have to be DESTROYED in the process.
They won't be destroyed, but you might lose some of them, since no
step ever gives a perfect yield of product.
The gold, platinum, and rhodium are not chemically bonded at all-
surely they're simply mixed. They're far too unreactive to be tightly
bonded to anything you'll find in an ore. The trick is to separate
them, as they have fairly similar properties. |
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