In fire assays you essentially dissolve the rock with a flux and use lead to collect the precious metals into a bead. In This video I try using an over the counter bismuth compound as a non toxic alternative.
You dislike the stuff that gets uploaded by my fingers clicking upload? Are you just a h8er boi? I say see you l8er, boi. Don't watch the stuff that gets uploaded by my fingers clicking upload anymore. Your dislikes are damaging my good good GOOD reputation. I am a superstar, dear ran
The droplet slowly cools below the freezing temperature, getting in a super-cooled state. Something kicks off the freezing reaction and the whole thing freezes rapidly, giving off heat (Solidifying is an exothermic reaction) i.e. the droplet going from bright to dimm to bright. All the Bismuth was already absorbed by the crucible by the point we see the little gold bead :)
I remember watching the super long process of extracting bismuth from pepto bismol by nilered and Cody just puts it into a furnace and still get relatively pure bismuth
After everything you’ve been through and done, thank you truly for continuing to share with us. Personally, I learn something new nearly every time I watch. I wish you all the love and good luck I have to offer. Please stay safe and take care of yourself friend! Edit: I’m so happy to see so many in agreement and grateful for the likes! I apologize for delay in response. I feel this may be disrespectful for me to share… Our dear friend lost an amazing dude, and very close friend along the way. Remember to love and show appreciation to those around you. I hope all of you will stay safe and take care as well!
@@luminoustedium oh god why would you remind me of that traumatic experience? My hand is still burnt from the calculus. I forgot to wear gloves that day.
Not surprised that bismuth metal works as a collector metal, what did surprise me is being able to just throw Pepto tablets into the crucible and have them break down into metal like that. That is so much easier than Nile Reds way of getting bismuth metal from those pills lol. All jokes aside though, that is brilliant and probably way safer than lead.
I completely agree. I think I know why this works, but would love Cody to explain it. But I think it works exactly the same way as using lead as an accumulator metal. Pepto contains metallic bismuth in it, so when it’s heated to high temps like this, the organic compounds (binders) burn away leaving just the metal. Then the process is exactly the same as cupelling with lead without the hazards of using lead.
Ok, that's hilarious that you just decided "ya know, im gonna use this random over-the-counter medicine, without any refinement, in place of lead." And it just *works*. Bravo Cody
@@GaiusCaligula234 It's a pun. The phrase is normally "none of [her] business" but Cat replaced the word "business" with "bismuth" because they sound similar and it's funny. Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You figure out how the frog works but it dies in the process.
@@General12th The sadistic part of me loves pretending to not understand a joke, just to force someone to explain it. And then I can say "huh, that doesn't seem all that funny, but okay"
Well that's pretty awesome. One still needs a furnace, crucibles, and all the other accessories, but this method of using a commonly available product to perform the process in a non-toxic way is a really impressive discovery.
Certainly not a discovery as Bismuth's use in fire assays is fairly well known but this is a delightfully creative use of a regular household product that has a side-benefit of not being (as) toxic, a *very* Cody setup.
@@Fenriswaffle I assumed Cody didn't discover the chemical principle, rather I meant that he "discovered" that this realtively cheap, commonly-available source of bismuth will work for hobbyist purposes.
@@theCodyReeder Some of your ideas are so crazy I think there's no way you could come up with all of them (I said crazy, but ingenious would also be appropriate).
Idk why in hell I was not suscribed to Cody I just realized today I've been thinking 🤔 why I hadn't seen any updates from him... I know I've been subscribed since I was a kid, I love this channel so much, I admire and appreciate Cody :) salutes from México
Wow, this is one of those things that you never think of and the someone like Cody does it and it's like dang, that's so simple how are we only now getting to this point. Bismuth and lead share a lot of the same properties in terms of alloys and melting points. Bismuth was even often confused for lead because of the similar density and melting point. But the thing they don't share is the toxicity. The only thing is that lead is the thirty-sixth most abundant element while bizmuth is the sixty-fifth most abundant. So while there is less of it, I still think my following statement applies because you have made assays safer in terms of resources used. You deserve a Nobel in chemistry my guy,
I mentioned using bismuth for fire assays at one of the mines I worked at in order to avoid lead and all the permitting requirements and they looked at me like I'm crazy.
This is why corporations should fail. They are so stuck in the "way its always been done" and the bureaucracy of people's jobs that are solely to deal with paperwork such as permits and licenses... I'm not one of those communists freaks posing as liberals. But, there's something deeply wrong with the situation OP described. They don't know the work, they just follow the steps they were trained to do, and nothing else.
Not even just his understanding of chemistry, but his understanding of the scientific process! If he has an idea, he turns it into a hypothesis and attempts to disprove it! Cody is such an inspiration.
What a neat trick! Get the lead out if you don't need it. One nitpick, I would guess bismuth fumes are less toxic than lead fumes because lead is pretty bad whereas you can eat Pepto Bismol, but don't overdo it. Most fumes are at least somewhat bad for you. Whatever's left is probably outweighed by using electric rather than gas heating though.
@@416Rival Form matters. Fumes are usually somewhat bad for you even if they consist of stuff that would be harmless to eat. Lungs are picky like that.
That’s awesome. I’ve always shied away from lead and mercury for processing due to toxicity. Mercury is easy to circumvent. Lead was the other roadblock. Thanks.
Cody, you have to re-do this just use powdered bismuth. I’m curious to know if the savings on propane is greater than the cost of using something more expensive than lead. It would be a great experiment!
This is extremely good info! If you did some recovery efficiency figures for different prescious metals this could become a standard technique! Hats off!
As someone who's recently been looking into my own little kiln set up for my prospecting hobbies this information is fantastic, Though I read a bit about bismuth I would never have considered pep for a safe and easy alternative lmao. Great content !
Cody, your glee that it worked, at the end, and your reason why? 100% my reaction, and what I'm expecting when I tell my dad about this. Cupelling, except for the toxic heavy metal fumes, is the best way to recover some gold he has trapped in a few metallurgically annoying places around the house. Yet again, you've answered a real-life question of mine (because I'm apparently a bit of a weirdo :) )
@@superemma1785 I don’t know of any negative health effects from bismuth. Which is crazy to think about. It’s so close to lead on the periodic table, and in most ways acts a lot like lead, yet it’s so much safer for organic life.
Oh dang, this is some real neat alternative chemistry for fire assay! Always wondered about the dangers of using Lead and any reliable alternatives, and I feel like perhaps chemists won't ask too many questions if you buy Pepto in bulk. Might ask if you eat Taco Bell a bit too frequently, though!
