I was playing around in the lab with my dentist friend when he
got out a bottle of pregnant solution of cyanide.
G’day; My goodness I wonder a) who could be so brave/foolish to get
some cyanide in the family way, b) I wait with bated breath to learn
what the offspring might look like, (cyanates, thiocyanates…?) and
c) what do you really mean by 'pregnant?
I'm not sure if they are sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide.
The briquettes are almost certainly sodium cyanide as the sodium salt
is far cheaper than the potassium salt, is very comparable in
properties, and is always used by the mining industry/refiners.
Does anybody out there have info on how to make a pregnant
solution.
I really can’t imagine anyone doing it the old fashioned way - an in
vitro method perhaps?
Do I just dissolve a briquette in distilled h2o and then throw
in a 24k gold eagle or 22k Krugerrand? Will the 22k solution plate
22k? Can I use a small transformer to plate rather than a battery?
Just how dangerous will this be? I really don't want to die just
yet.
If one connects a positive wire to the gold and the negative wire to
the object to be plated, and in a solution of pot or sodium cyanide
yes, you will get plate; an electric current is essential. Yes, you
can use a transformer - but ONLY if a rectifier is used to convert the
AC current into DC. An AC current will simply shunt the gold back and
forth at around 60 times per second and nothing much will happen.
I would strongly suggest that you get some books from the library and
read up about plating. I came to the conclusion long ago that good
plating is as much an art as a science. Furthermore, a good, bright
adherent plate requires a good deal of preparation of the object
before anything else is done. Anything else will be a waste of time
and of gold.
Be VERY careful with the cyanide; it is very caustic and corrosive.
Wear goggles and rubber gloves if handling it. Never allow any acid to
get anywhere near it. Keep it in a well closed container as it
rapidly absorbs carbon dioxide to produce sodium carbonate. And have
it conspicuously labelled and kept in a place where children can’t get
at it. – Cheers now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua
Nelson NZ, where it was 14�C with cloudless sky by day and -2�C at
moonlit night.