DailyDirt: Metallic Royalty

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Noble metals, such as gold and platinum, get their name from their rarity in occurrence and because they don't easily oxidize or corrode when exposed to the atmosphere. It takes a highly corrosive mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid (aka, "aqua regia") to dissolve gold or platinum. In fact, Aqua regia (which is Latin for "regal water") is named for its ability to dissolve "noble" metals. Due to their desirable properties, noble metals have found use particularly in jewelry making as well as chemical catalysts. Here are a few examples of some recent findings related to noble metals. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
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Filed Under: catalyst, chemistry, cornstarch, cyclodextrins, fruit, gold, nanoparticles, noble metals, platinum, silver


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2013 @ 5:24pm

    will there be a run on cornstarch..?

    when the price of gold goes up again?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Kal Zekdor (profile), 3 Jun 2013 @ 6:48pm

    Re: will there be a run on cornstarch..?

    If so, will this link the price of food to the price of gold? That would be weird (especially for those who proponent a gold-backed currency). Not sure if it would be good or bad, but definitely weird.

    Of course, they probably don't use up all that much corn in the process, so it's a moot point.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2013 @ 12:48am

    Prolonged Silver consumption or exposure causes Argyria.

    If people start turning blue due to a contaminated environment that could be cool or horrible depending on your own views(bias) of the world.

    Personally I don't mind, is not like is deadly or anything is just different, but some people do care and they probably scream bloody murder if they turn blue.

    About the ethylene thing, I wonder when someone will try to collect those gases that occur naturally and start stocking them up, they are useful, now that would be something cool.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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