How to Find Scrap Gold in Electronics
People are usually surprised to see how much precious metal is wasted whenever they throw away their electronic devices. Silver, platinum, gold and palladium can be found in old circuits and processors of electronics. Gold is the most recovered and refined precious metal above all others. Even though you can melt the gold plating from the circuitry, you will create a mess and lose parts of gold. A good way to find scrap gold is to use a process known as reverse electroplating. There are also other ways to find scrap gold in electronics if you follow some simple methods.
Things Required:
– Scrap electronics
– Rubber apron
– Thick rubber gloves
– Face shield
– Respiratory mask
– Glass beaker
– Electrolyte
Instructions
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1
Find all of your scrap electronics
Begin by getting the components from which you will extract gold. Older electronics is a good way to start as it has more gold plating than the new ones. For instance, an old 386 or 486 computer consists of a lot of gold and remember that analog cell phones contain more gold than the recent digital ones. It is a fact that new electronics also consist of gold, but old electronics are more useful. Remove all gold plated components from the available equipment. Do not waste time on the motherboard if the precious metal is plated on the processors, chips or connector pins. Cut gold plated things from the circuit board as well. -
2
Be comfortable working with chemicals
You will use a chemical process to extract the gold plating and one to refine it to pure 24k fine gold. As a result, you need to take safety warnings to avoid chemical burns and toxic fumes damaging your health. Therefore, wear a rubber apron and thick rubber gloves when dealing with chemicals. Respiratory mask is also handy and a face shield is useful to protect yourself from splashing. -
3
Reverse electroplating
Get an electrolyte for the reverse electroplating process. This is a solution that facilitates a chemical bath for gold along with acting as a conductor of electricity. You can make this by adding a mixture of 70 percent sodium cyanide, 15 percent sodium hydroxide and 15 percent sodium meta nitro benzene sulphate. After that, carefully put these chemicals into a glass chemistry beaker and mix them with the help of a glass wand.
