[meteorite-list] Test for Nickle

From: Ryan Darby <rdarby_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:08 2004
Message-ID: <9CA31A462625B047BD8647980CB556CD286210_at_iserver.COMLABS.COM.AU>

I asked this yesterday of everyone around me (I work in a laboratory
software company, overrun with chemists.).

What you do is get some oxidizing acid. Hydrochloric may work, but you
need something aggressive like Nitric acid.=20
Powder some sample, and in a glass jar add some acid. It should all turn
a bright green color, like lime cordial. You may need to stand the glass
jar in a sink of warm water, to warm the whole thing.=20
Basically you are creating nickel nitrate, by oxidizing the nickel.=20

However, I don't know anything about this, am not a chemist, have not
done this myself. Do at your own risk. I don't think Nitric acid is
readily available either. I suspect that the nickel test kits are just
pool acid (HCl), which will turn it green, but is not enough for low
amount of Nickel.=20

Also depends on the form of the nickel. If it's nickel silicate, won't
work.=20

Remember that acid and kids and pets don't mix.=20

I am going to get a price from a commercial laboratory for such a test.
There are a lot of them around here.=20

Cheers
Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Calvert [mailto:jerry_at_kansasfire.com]=20
Sent: Tuesday, 15 April 2003 2:31 PM
To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Subject: [meteorite-list] Test for Nickle

I was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions on an easy
way to test for nickle. I have tried nickle test kits from the drug
stores, which work fine on specimens with a very high nickle
content, but not on the majority of stoney pieces. I have purchased
nickle test kit on EBAY, they too fell short. Does anyone have a
reliable test that have the sensitivity to be effective, even on sample
with low nickle content?
Thanks in advance,
jerry_at_kansasfire.com=20


=20
                  =20

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Received on Tue 15 Apr 2003 02:55:32 AM PDT