W 184 and 74.

Au 197 and 79.

 

no, not a chance

put the gold in a graduated vessel with a known quantity of water in it' date=' work out how much the water rises (that give you it`s volume by displacement).

 

now weigh the gold and obtain that value.

 

using both of these you can work out it`s purity, as gold has a given weight per CM^3

 

nothing has to bent or distorted, laser ablated or fried [/quote']

 

wasnt that the greek guy who the king was going to kill if he didnt find out who?

 

lol. run in to the street and shout, "eureka" alos a great science museum in the UK.

Archemedies or something that sounds a bit like that yeah

 

apparently he wasn`t wearing any clothes at the time either! no wonder he went down in history for such a mundane discovery

""eureka" alos a great science museum in the UK."

 

We got one here too. It's called "Heureka" here.

 

"W 184 and 74.

Au 197 and 79."

 

Gee, we're not talking atomic masses here are we? If the case would be like you pointed out, then why is osmium more dense than, let's say, lead?

 

Edit: "apparently he wasn`t wearing any clothes at the time either"

Yeah, it's told that he ran out of the spa (or the place where you could take a bath anyway), in his very birthday suit.

Archemedies or something that sounds a bit like that yeah

 

apparently he wasn`t wearing any clothes at the time either! no wonder he went down in history for such a mundane discovery

 

Yep.

W 184 and 74.

Au 197 and 79.

 

no' date=' not a chance [/quote']

 

 

Tungsten and Gold have the exact same theoretical density if it is measured using common techniques. (If you have seriously advanced equipment, you can calculate out a more precise density).

 

In my case, the bars are basically perfect rectangular ingots. Therefore, I will just use simple measurements. The easiest way to tell whether or not it's pure, in my case, is to bend the ingot. If it's made out of tungsten, I will not be able to bend it. If it's gold, I will be able to. My ability to bend it, in conjunction with the calculated density, will tell me whether or not it is indeed gold.

"If it's made out of tungsten, I will not be able to bend it."

 

It could be approx. 95% gold 5% tungsten and you'll never know it! It's a conspiracy, run for the hills and load your muskets!

 

No, really. If you'd combine a) observing the temperature of melting b) measuring density, you'd probably be able to see if it's relatively pure gold, if you don't mind the melting part. Though usually a certificate comes with the ingots, so unless you get a suspicious 1kg gold bar for 100$ or something then you shouldn't worry too much. :F

Well, for me 23 karat gold is close enough to 24 karat gold that it wouldn't matter.

karat is a measurement of WEIGHT

karat is a measurement of WEIGHT

 

I am sorry sir, but you are incorrect. karat is a measure of the fineness of gold, with 24 karats being 100% pure. Carat is a measure of weight, used to weigh gemstones and such. You can google this one if you'd like.

jdurg is right,

karat is the purity of a (normally precious) metal out of a maximum of 24.

"karat is a measurement of WEIGHT"

 

Yes, as others have pointed out, you're wrong. It's carat, not karat (we got the same problem here in Finland too, both are called "karaatti"). A carat is about 0.2g, and as stated usually used in measuring gemstone weights. The word carat comes from a plant, Ceratonia siliqua (a.k.a. St. John's Bread) since the seeds were used as gemstone weights. So, if you measured that a diamond weighed as much as five seeds of the plant, it was roughly about 1g (as it is today).

"karat is a measurement of WEIGHT"

 

Yes' date=' as others have pointed out, you're wrong. It's carat, not karat (we got the same problem here in Finland too, both are called "karaatti"). A carat is about 0.2g, and as stated usually used in measuring gemstone weights. The word carat comes from a plant, [i']Ceratonia siliqua[/i] (a.k.a. St. John's Bread) since the seeds were used as gemstone weights. So, if you measured that a diamond weighed as much as five seeds of the plant, it was roughly about 1g (as it is today).

 

 

I did not know that. Very nice explanation of the origin of the term "carat".

Anyway, back to the gold bar issue. From the pictures of the gold bars on the auction site, and based upon the rough measurements I was able to estimate, the bars should be authentic. I calculated what the dimensions of the bar would have to be in order to match the density of pure gold, and they are very, very, very valid. So now I'll just have to wait and see. (I've also got 10 grams worth of what looks to be the same gold bars coming in from another dealer, so there's a great chance that it is indeed gold. I've obtained so much gold lately, and my little vial is getting quite full and very heavy. It's a beautiful metal).

LOL @ Swansont post #205.

 

is that another one of yours?

my first element arrioved today; Bismuth

Congrats! Only 80 or 90 something more to go! (Depending upon your goals). I would also suggest trying to get the precious metals of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, rhenium, osmium and iridium next since their prices are going to continue skyrocketing. (Rhodium is insanely expensive right now. Over 1100 U.S. dollars per troy ounce!)

"is that another one of yours?"

 

It says: Swanson Tom. And even has a Tom logo on it. Perhaps, perhaps.

 

"my first element arrioved today; Bismuth"

 

It's good to start cheap (well, I'd consider bismuth cheap in a pellet form, trusting your sample is a pellet of bismuth). I started off expensive: 5.08g of iridium, cost me 40£

"is that another one of yours?"

 

It says: Swanson Tom. And even has a Tom logo on it. Perhaps, perhaps.

 

"my first element arrioved today; Bismuth"

 

It's good to start cheap (well, I'd consider bismuth cheap in a pellet form, trusting your sample is a pellet of bismuth). I started off expensive: 5.08g of iridium, cost me 40£

"is that another one of yours?"

 

It says: Swanson Tom. And even has a Tom logo on it. Perhaps' date=' perhaps.

[/quote']

 

Yes, I'm really subtle about that...

"is that another one of yours?"

 

It says: Swanson Tom. And even has a Tom logo on it. Perhaps' date=' perhaps.

[/quote']

 

Yes, I'm really subtle about that...

Alright. I got my 10.5 grams worth of gold in the mail today. While it's not from the same seller as my most recent purchase, the bars are exactly the same. I did a calculation on the density, and it came out to 20 grams per cubic centimeter. Since the measurements were rough and the theorectical density of gold is 19.3 g/mL, I confirm that this is indeed pure gold.

Alright. I got my 10.5 grams worth of gold in the mail today. While it's not from the same seller as my most recent purchase, the bars are exactly the same. I did a calculation on the density, and it came out to 20 grams per cubic centimeter. Since the measurements were rough and the theorectical density of gold is 19.3 g/mL, I confirm that this is indeed pure gold.

awesome I think Ill buy some