Unless you have a well equipped lab and a considerable knowledge of
chemistry, I don't recommend that you try making your own noble salts. Now
I know this is coming from me, who made my first batch on a Weber Barbeque
on my back patio in a Los Angeles suburb. However, knowing what I know
today, I probably wouldn't have tried it.
The first problem you will encounter is with the aqua-regia which is used
as to dissolve the metal. It is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids
and is far more dangerous than either one is alone. It is also used hot,
which makes it more dangerous by many factors. This stuff will, if it gets
on you be, very very dangerous. I have gotten one drop on my forefinger
when I picked up a beaker and didn't realize it and it peeled the skin
right off. It was raw for a week.
But this is not the worst of the problem. It is the fumes. As the metal
dissolves it will produce a mixture of nitric gasses. One good whiff can
kill you or at best cause emphysema. These are very dangerous and caustic
gasses. You can think you are ok and then drop dead 4 hours later. These
gasses will eat up a conventional fume hood fan in the matter of an hour.
We do all of our work in closed vessels and trap the gasses in 50 gallon
tanks filled with sodium hydroxide. The solution is pumped through a bank
of plastic corrosion resistant vacuum aspirators by a powerful pump which
recirculates the solution. The aspirators create a vacuum and suck the
gasses from the vessels and then the gasses are dissolved in the solution
where the reaction forms harmless sodium nitrate and sodium chloride.
Those who know me know that I like to see alt-photo printers empowered to
make their own chemicals. However, in this case, I think the dictum is "If
you have to ask how, it is best not do it."
--Dick Sullivan
At 11:41 AM 3/30/98 -0500, you wrote:
>hello
>
>i 'm interresting by the how to make salt of nobel metal
>platinum, palladium and gold salt
>
>gold salt is the one i most interrested
>but the other could interest me too
>so if any one (sullivan) can explain me the way of this process
>thanks a lot
>
>tchao
>
>Nze christian (france)
>
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