You might have come across a lot of tests for gold by using muriatic acid, aqua regia, or other ways. But all those ways are complicated and expensive to test the gold at home. So, we present you the easiest way to test gold at home with baking soda.
To test gold with baking soda, start by putting on gloves and eye protection to protect yourself from the chemical
To test gold with baking soda, start by putting on gloves and eye protection to protect yourself from the chemicals. Next, drop a small piece of gold into a cup of vinegar. If it doesn’t dissolve or fizz after a few seconds, the piece is likely real gold since fake gold will react to the acid.To find out if your gold is real, place it in the palm of your hand and set it on fire with a lighter for a few seconds.
If you don’t have vinegar on hand, you can also test gold using baking soda! Just fill an aluminum pan with white vinegar and add some baking soda to create an acid-base reaction that will make bubbles appear. Then, hold the gold piece over the pan and carefully drop it into the bubbles. If your gold is pure, the bubbles will disappear within 5 seconds. If they don’t go away after 10 minutes or if they turn brownish color then your piece may not be real gold!
Next, get a bowl that you’re willing to ruin and line it with foil
First, I want to say that this is not the best way to test gold at home. However, it’s one of the easiest and more reliable tests you can do at home, and it’s great for quickly sussing out genuine gold from fake gold.
- To test gold at home without acid, first make sure you’re wearing gloves and eye protection.
- Next, get a bowl that you’re willing to ruin and line it with foil. Make sure the foil is shiny side up.
- Put your unknown sample on top of the foil and carefully drop a spoonful of baking soda onto it. If the sample is real gold, it will dissolve in a few seconds
Then, pour the baking soda into the bowl until it’s about half full
- If you want to know how to test gold at home, the first thing you need is a scale. You’re going to weigh your items in grams to get an accurate reading.
- Then, pour the baking soda into the bowl until it’s about half full.
- Next, place your gold pieces on a flat surface and use a jewelry file or emery board to scrape off a small portion of each piece. This will give you an exposed part of the gold that you can test with the acid.
- Drop the gold pieces that you just scraped into the bowl with baking soda, and add water until it covers all of the metals. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes so that any dirt or grime can be washed away and separated from the valuable metals.
- Once enough time has lapsed, remove your jewelry items and wipe them clean with a soft rag or paper towel.
After that, place your gold piece into the baking soda and pour vinegar over it
This experiment is a favorite among amateur chemists because it’s so easy and fun to do. It’s also an interesting demonstration of basic science.You can use baking soda to test the acidity of any substance, but gold isn’t exactly the most acidic substance on earth. To find out what it would take to dissolve gold in vinegar, you’ll have to do a little chemistry on your own.
- Start by dissolving equal amounts of baking soda and vinegar in the same amount of hot water. Then mix 1 teaspoon (5 g) of baking soda with 1/8 teaspoon (0.5 ml) of vinegar and pour the mixture into a shallow dish or glass. You’ll see that the gold will immediately start to react with the vinegar, forming a white skin over the surface of your solution.
- After about 20 minutes, this reaction will be complete, and you can remove your piece of gold from its solution. If you look at it under a microscope, you’ll see that this white skin contains a number of small particles suspended in the solution
Give the mixture some time to react, then take the gold out of the bowl and scrub it with a toothbrush to clear away any remaining chemicals
The process of using baking soda and vinegar to clean tarnished gold is a very simple one.
- First, fill a bowl with lukewarm water, and add a few drops of dish soap. Stir in 1/4 cup of baking soda, then place your gold jewelry into the solution.
- Give the mixture some time to react, then take the gold out of the bowl and scrub it with a toothbrush to clear away any remaining chemicals. As long as you use gentle motions, this technique is safe for both gold- and silver-plated jewelry as well.
- Once you’ve removed all traces of tarnish and grime, rinse your pieces off under running water, dry them thoroughly with a soft cloth, and they’ll be good as new.
- You can store them in a cool, dark place to prevent future tarnishing
Conclusion
The best way to test for gold without buying an expensive kit is to make a paste with baking soda and tepid water. This can be sprinkled on the flake of gold or on gravel from the area you have collected from. If the paste doesn’t fizz then you probably don’t have gold. If you can get a good-sized flake of gold, you should heat it gently in a fire-proof container until it melts and then boil off as much of the other metals as possible.
