Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast!

Posted by alexandros on Tuesday October 25, 2011 @05:56AM
from the npr.org dept.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/10/03/140815154/dissolve-my-nobel-prize-fast-a-true-story

( 2 comments | 9 points | on HN )

Re:Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast! by bbrizzi on Tuesday October 25, 2011 @08:06AM (#3153752)

    Back in Denmark, de Hevesy did a remarkable thing.
    He reversed the chemistry, precipitated out the gold
    and then, around January, 1950, sent the raw metal 
    back to the Swedish Academy in Stockholm.

He "reversed the chemistry"? Really? That sounds very scientific.

Edit: Further research shows that the first reaction is a simple redox[1], which can (probably) be inverted using a galvanic cell[2].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia#Dissolving_gold [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_cell

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast! by ephelon on Tuesday October 25, 2011 @06:04PM (#3156073)

It was probably as simple as evaporating the liquid and then heating the gold residue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_parting#Acid_parting

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