Metal Refining & Recovery, Episode19: Gold From Mercury

I clean out my distillation apparatus after distilling a large amount of mercury and recover the gold and silver.
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[@robinandersson862]

First thing I thought as I read "Gold from Mercury" was "So... Cody has finally embraced alchemy"

[@adfaklsdjf]

it was bound to happen sooner or later

[@stamasd8500]

That would be some pretty strong alchemy there. OTOH the reverse (mercury from gold) is totally feasible as long as you don't expect to get massive amounts of mercury out of it. Gold can capture thermal neutrons and becomes radioactive, decaying to an isotope of mercury.

[@spoonikle]

Transmutation is real, its called a particle accelerator. Although the current method to synthesis gold makes a radioactive isotope of gold. Fusion and fission. Technically you can fuse up till Iron and get a net positive in energy.

[@robinandersson862]

spoonikle Cody *clearly* chose the more "well established" route ;)

[@jacob416]

actually their is a isotope of mercery(196Hg) the is radioactive and decomposes into gold

[@petercollin5670]

"Of course, there is the half an ounce of gold or so that dissolved off the gold bar as I was flushing it down the toilet." I'm pretty sure that is the first time that sentence has ever been uttered.

[@dalitas]

half a gram*, hell'a difference from half an ounce

[@givanchong5891]

A 14 gram difference*

[@-danR]

'missspell'?

[@marius498]

Miss Spell.

[@earljoycearnoco2849]

Spell miss

[@The804R]

It's insane how you haven't gotten sponsored yet! If I owned a furnace company, I'd build you a house out of furnaces, just for the ad exposure. You're inspiring and teaching over a million people; that's good business for someone and you can benefit from that, which, in turn, would benefit us.

[@theCodyReeder]

The804R Lol the people I bought the furnace from didn't even warrantee it when it failed.

[@The804R]

I don't know if you're a fan of the "name and shame" tactic, I'm just saying I wouldn't mind.... Anyway, hope it works out or that you get a new one you can be happy with!

[@yagotitcovered5920]

Sponsors don't like honest people!

[@Warhawk76]

@@yagotitcovered5920 that would be why sponsors love KZbin as a company... just sayin

[@ronakbhanushali1238]

When cody wears gloves... shit sure as hell is serious

[@JakariaYT]

You never know when you'll find natural merxury in your punpkins.

[@yingxiawei821]

He will touch liquid mercury with his bare hands but literally wears gloves when doing math

[@ronakbhanushali1238]

@@yingxiawei821 lol its been two years man

[@ahaveland]

Recovery, or "unmixing" is so satisfying! Cody, HBPowerwall has thousands of laptop battery BMS circuit boards that he'd like to send you to see how much gold you can recover from them. I would really really like to see how to recover cobalt, manganese, nickel and lithium from 18650 batteries - their use is growing exponentially so recycling is going to be a very big thing. Cobalt is currently around $60 a kilo, so well worth doing.

[@adfaklsdjf]

These are excellent ideas. Cody, take note!

[@moiseman]

That sounds like a lot of work

[@aronbraswell1589]

I fully agree. It would be awesome to see lithium metal being made as well as the other recoverable metals. Cody is the man, but be careful with the off gassing. Your health is important to us viewers too

[@IronOger]

make Andy's Top Comment!^^^^^^^^^^^^

[@ender_scythe2879]

18650s probably contain only a few grams of cobalt, which means that the cobalt in 18650s are more expensive (assuming the other bits are considered worthless) than the raw cobalt. Even if you sold the rest the cobalt would still be more expensive.

[@StayPuffTruflle]

SpaceX: you can’t bring any mercury to mars. Cody: I don’t wanna go

[@Idontgivechainsaw]

Haha

[@ZrubekFamily]

If he can't bring Mercury to Mars, then He'll have to bring Mars to Mercury

[@rohanjamadagni]

Nah, he'll just build a mine and mine some on Mars.

[@mauroyanniccari3473]

Cody's Mine: Mars edition

[@Mazaroth]

He will go to mercury with some mercury with him.

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

You are the only one person in the world which works with half a liter of one of the deadliest things on earth and doesn't even mention it. I love you, cody❤

[@ocircles738]

Thank you Nile Red for making him get that vacuum filter

[@polloprestigioso]

O Cricles Do you know how is that "hand-vacuumer" device? I'm from Argentina, so I will try my best on the translation!! Haha thank you!

[@polloprestigioso]

So.. how is it called..?

[@gregorysheppard233]

Hand vacuum pump, or hand-action vacuum pump.

[@polloprestigioso]

Gregory Sheppard thank you very much Gregory!! Really apreciate it!

[@emoryjenkins3203]

That's not a watch glass. That's the carousel from your microwave, Cody!

[@Sharpless2]

no *its a watch glass.*

[@Jan-hm1xz]

gloves!!!! he is wearing gloves!!!

[@sablatnic8030]

He obviously doesn't want to contaminate the mercury.

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

It must be pretty cold there you know

[@mobspeak]

Mercury, it's fucking toxic man.

[@taba1950]

He is brave not stupid

[@lajoswinkler]

He always wears gloves when he's handling poisonous metal salts.

[@RetroGamer7200]

Precious Metal Refining & Recovery is my favorite anime

[@theshuman100]

season 1 was better

[@electronicsNmore]

Love these videos. They remind me of all gold and silver mines I explored in the Black Canyon Mountains of Arizona.

[@tarn1135]

That’s racist!

[@tarn1135]

I’m teasing. I actually think that’s really cool exploring those old mines.

[@misteryan20]

Hi Cody. Just wanted to say that your videos have gotten me through the past month. I only found your channel recently but I can honestly say I've watched 75% of them since I did. You're such a bright light of a human being, and you make me want to do more with my life. My birthday is tomorrow, so this is a nice early birthday gift since I absolutely love the precious metals videos. Thanks for everything!

[@joebuddy7717]

Hi Michael, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Enjoy Yourself. p

[@mattkaplan1316]

Happy b day mate

[@yakacm]

A bright light of a human being, what a great description for Cody, and to think some misguided ant lovers tried to close him down. I too love his channel and it really comes across what an intelligent, down to earth modest gentleman he is, Cody is an IntelliGENT, lol. Hope you have a great birthday.

[@quake2blog]

HB man!

[@peppern79]

Happy Birthday Michael :)

[@joshcareau3329]

Even though you didn't get much profit outta it, it does teach viewers such as myself. I scrapped 900+ hard drives that my uncle had given me through his line of work (all broken). It's a little cold out in CT, but I've started the gold pin recovery using muratic acid. Without the channel I think it would've been a lot more difficult to do. Love the series

[@Doughfam]

Always enjoy your videos. I am a waste treatment operator at a large manufacturer and we recover metal from our waste streams in various ways. I just wanted to say the videos are great, and I recommended your channel to my mom( a retired chemist and metallurgist, my friends used to call her Macgyver.)

[@alvh4198]

The chuckle while looking at your spoils has made my day. You, sir, are one of my heroes. Thank you for the very entertaining lesson, in chemistry as well as life.

[@TAZMANBVGS]

Hey Cody I think you should make a video about how and why acids desovle metals and why all acids don't resolve all metals. I would dealt like to understand the principas behind it and I'm sure you could make a entertaining video about this topic.

[@hookdump]

I’m really curious, why isn’t all the rust in this equipment a problem? Doesn’t it contaminate stuff?

[@theCodyReeder]

Its an easily removed contaminant.

[@Mr0Tubby]

Iron oxide probably doesn't amalgamate well either.

[@Regina05ish]

Ignacio Freiberg I don't know either work with what you got

[@givanchong5891]

Cody'sLab is it because it is lighter than mercury?

[@ivanmlinarevic1826]

When this video got released 34 minutes ago but Igancio has a comment from 10 hours ago. KZbin your drunk again, go home.

[@christopherrhoderick9706]

Besides the bee keeping, these are the types of videos I enjoy the most.

[@trulyinfamous]

I love that green. Chemicals that create colors are my favourites. I love copper so much just because of the fact that it can create so many colors.

[@DonSolaris]

*Please* do a video about chemical waste management, how you do it, etc.

[@ronakbhanushali1238]

Welcome back to the coolest channel on youtube

[@Logistikon11]

I really appreciate how much time goes into these chemistry videos. The chem and the contraptions like the solar powered water separator are my faves.

[@HunterChasens]

If I ever I need to go back in time to an era lacking modern technology I know who to take. I have been watching this channel for years and every time learn something new. This channel has single-handedly sparked an ever-burning interest in chemistry.

[@doubledarefan]

Refine copper from copperhead salmon. :D

[@wyattisenor5136]

Gold from goldfish!

[@prof.esrever7823]

Cat from catfish!

[@ivanbustelo79]

Butter from butterflies

[@TomsLab]

#codyislovecodyislife

[@Archer-bc6cv]

Yay a video from on of the greatest KZbinrs ever!! 😁

[@Archer-bc6cv]

Also one question that I had is why did you put glass in your distillation chamber?

[@braydensworkshops8020]

Tom's Lab he was one of the few tubers to inspire my channel!;

[@ArtursJ]

Archer 9978 Learn to write a comment not a reply.

[@jacebrown3796]

THE GONG he was taking to Tom not Cody my dude

[@bitchybitch9517]

Cody: I LOVE CHEMISTRY! There are so many things about it that help people live healthy, happy, lives, yet they're oblivious to it all. Albert Einstein was known as a chemist but couldn't grasp the math to add on his fingers. They don't mention that he based his knowledge and discoveries upon alchemy! Alchemy is easy to learn, once one knows that; all else falls into place! I love watching your videos on refining metals, they're very educational. THANK YOU! 🤓

[@JoelHudson]

Hey Cody! Happy Hollandaise!, I never knew there was a watch glass in my microwave! Cool!!

[@Verlisify]

YES this series needs to be more frequent

[@theCodyReeder]

Verlisify It will be over the next month or two

[@kenjigyary8538]

This man makes me love chemistry... wish I seen his video before

[@reinhardbittner4080]

Always enjoy the chemistry. Thanks, Cody.

[@bigjim9706]

I feel like I could just keep learning and watching you Cody! Thanks for being here on KZbin.. I'm a 17k subber and truly still love your vids!! They never fail to entertain me!

[@PrimitiveTimes]

Great idea

[@heyarno]

You might want to get one of those cheap usb endoscopes. It might have saved you from sawing the thing open.

[@lagduck2209]

That's probably not a problem at all for him to weld whole thing back later, if needed.

[@sinephase]

yeah he had other options as well, he was just being impatient. I can relate :P

[@harishuskic7270]

Cody. Please don't say it wasn't worth it. Definitely love thsee chemistry videos. My school never had a big chemistry class so I missed out on alot and now I get to enjoy watching you videos untill my back surgery is done and then I'm off to college for wildlife conservation.

[@asianguyen3319]

Your videos inspire everyone thank you Cody!!

[@schelsullivan]

I recently watched a video about organic Mercury and how deadly it is. Could you do a video explaining the difference between organic Mercury and the liquid mercury you use in your videos?

[@lt5334]

schel sullivan well the difference is that organic Mercury is from a methyl group meaning that its broken down and reacted due to biologic processes, whereas liquid mercury is metallic and doesnt contain any carbon.

[@TalisonElvira]

Do you mean dimethel-mercury

[@lt5334]

Talison Elvira thats why i incorporated the entire methyl group.

[@LureThosePixels]

That was a good video, poor lady

[@bobjoe747]

I saw that video as well, quite sad.

[@dodywe]

The silver nugget looks like the millennium falcon. Anyway, great video cody!

[@josephpecoul6532]

Professor Cody at it again. Thanks for loving what you do enough to share it with us.

[@goldrecovery]

Cody, your video is fantastic. GOOD JOB.

[@darshankumar2717]

Yea a new Cody's lab vid.

[@Stars11222]

ok. got my popcorn and im ready for some cody awesomeness!

[@drinventions9742]

As always your chemistry videos are awesome...Good work Cody

[@abh-itsanamazingworld6283]

Awesome video! I love your chemistry videos! Thanks Cody!

[@MrEmagicman]

I was getting worried, that title looked a lot like one of those KZbin Red things!

[@mr.personhumanson6871]

Cody should make a "How To" video of properly disposing different kinds of chemicals and other nasty stuff, would be really helpful.

[@rosen380]

Don't recall if it was Cody or NileRed, but at least one of them did one or more videos on processing waste

[@ScienceWithJames]

rosen380 They both did.

[@videogamegang1797]

I think he did for a mercury spill. Somewhere on his channel. 2 years old I think. Basically comes down to “Use a broom and dustpan, and vacuum the cracks.”

[@bcubed72]

...seeing as the mercury was originally bound up in rocks (cinnabar), couldn't you take the Hg-tainted water and make concrete out of it? Thereby locking it up in rock again?

[@MGSLurmey]

@@bcubed72 That might not actually be a bad idea. Though, as the concrete cracks and dust forms over time you might release some of that mercury back into the environment, potentially exposing people to it. Though, it would probably be in such small amounts over such a large time span that it wouldn't be dangerous.

[@adfaklsdjf]

Maybe not monetarily worth it, but you know how much your fans love these videos, Cody. It's worth it.

[@Owaaan]

This is your best work. Been waiting for these vids, more or this, mining and the hives please. Thanks Cody

[@larfanformersalat0220]

And in reality Cody just needs money.

[@amansoni8720]

did elon musk ask you for the mars trip? no wait..... are you done building your rocket for the mars trip?

[@molonlabe9115]

Aman Soni he has been there and back already but youtube took his video down.

[@mavos1211]

This really felt like classic vintage Cody! Loved this video thank you.

[@k_froggy]

I love watching gold refining in any form. Its just like magic it just always captivates me.

[@householdchemist]

Cody, I love your videos!

[@justanothervoice9683]

Ah Cody, you always make my day!

[@Blenji_]

Yeeeeees, by far my favorite series on this channel! Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos

[@shadowxsm]

Hey @Cody'sLab I have a very simple and quick question that might be great for your next video. I have a friend who put a bottle of water in the freezer overnight, and when he took it out the next morning it had turned to a jelly consistency, not crystallized slush, not frozen water, but jelly. Here's his message - "So I put a bottle of water in the freezer to help with my hangover, grab the bottle out and crack the lid and the water turns misty. Squeezed the bottle a bit and it didn't feel solid, so naturally I presumed there was no ice. After opening the bottle, to my absolute amazement I find that not only is there ice in the bottle but it's gelatinous!!"

[@drewanderson427]

Hey Cody, try using a bit of wd40 whenever possible to saw steel. It will "cut" the sawing time in half.

[@stamasd8500]

While that does make indeed for faster cutting, it will dull the saw blades much faster. That's because the iron filings will be trapped in the cutting fluid and will stay near the cut zone instead of falling away, and this leads to extra wear and tear on the saw teeth. In industrial processes that use a cutting fluid, the fluid is fed to the cut zone continuously as to carry away the filings and prevent this from happening.

[@markussmith3135]

stamasd I don't know you use cutting paste on drills and that stays there and also makes drills last longer and coolant In machines flashes off creating a oil residue on cut surfaces coolant isent for washing bits away it's for cooling the cutting edge on tools to stop them burning out making them last longer you can't flush metal out of say a pocket altho I know mechanical saws have wire brushes to remove cuttings from the cutting edge but I think that's to reduce snagging and build up in the gap not because it wears the blade?

[@IEIM64I]

I hope you're doing frequent checks for high mercury/blood levels

[@theCodyReeder]

EIM64 I am

[@AFV1891]

Good Video Cody - always good to see precious metal refining

[@mainengines]

Just really enjoy your videos! Thank You.

[@hjnkhjnk1871]

So THATS how Hi-C Ecto Cooler drink is made!

[@pussywran]

Cody how long did this whole process take you

[@crb2222]

These refining videos of yours are by far my favourite dude.

[@Snyper1188]

I love your refining videos!! Easily my favorite series you do.

[@rentAscout]

Cody has become the bill nye of chemistry, some rich ass company needs to donate a fume hood and hot plate.

[@Pygar2]

Bummer of a comparison- I'm sure Cody is a much better person.

[@SuperSMT]

Don't insult Cody like that!

[@i-v-l9335]

Theres nothing wrong with that comparison because Cody is doing what Bill used to do meaning it is just showing how much of a disgrace that Bill has become.

[@vitriolix]

What's the black glassy stuff that you get in the crucible when melting down the gold & silver?

[@theCodyReeder]

Sodium borate mostly, its only black due to carbon and other impurities dissolved into it.

[@sadhlife]

the black colour looked really good though

[@mobspeak]

In simpler terms, look up the word flux.

[@EnjoyerofYoutube]

YES!! This is the kind of cody'slab video I had been missing! I love these refining and recovery vids.

[@AlphaSierra375]

Thanks for continuing to upload such intriguing videos! Much love to you & yours. :)

[@stamasd8500]

I think your gold is still impure, it may have other HNO3-insoluble metals carried over with it (platinum, rhodium, osmium etc). So the amount of gold you recovered is probably less than 0.7g. It would be interesting to see you refine even further, but that may be difficult with such a small amount.

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

stamasd osmium is soluble in nitric acid. But I don't think that there was that much platinum in the mercury. He didn't use platinum at all

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

stamasd and it is also incredibly rare

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

*osmium is incredibly rare

[@stamasd8500]

Well I never had enough osmium to try. :) But chances are there are some platinum group metals in there as impurities in the gold.

[@pietrotettamanti7239]

stamasd I just assumed it based on the fact that it's a fairly reactive metal, unlike most of the metals of its period. You must store it under inert atmosphere, otherwise it will spontaneously form osmium tetroxide.

[@kartonbaba]

*moos in slowmo*

[@coleudall14]

hahahahaha

[@Icy_bones]

Slow moo-tion.

[@pazur1459]

I don't know half the stuff you say most of the time cody but the fact you know what you're saying amazes me. You should do a fan meetup of sorts in SLC one day, I would love to meet you.

[@sfullersony]

Old guy here: just want to say, you are an amazing young man. Great and fascinating video. Thank you!

[@bowenhunter2558]

I swear he said my name in the start “hi there Bowen and welcome back to Cody’s Lab”

[@FireworksFreak8008]

Nopeeee

[@brigittepetrovics]

Really sounded like "Hi there Bowen"! :D

[@son0of0the0beast]

"Today on How it's Made"

[@mrobviuos74]

Always enjoy! 👍THANK YOU!

[@asterope1604]

so glad i turned on the bell icon for cody. I stop whatever i'm doing to watch your videos cody keep up the amazing work.

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

The blue colour was more likely copper contaminance since in excess ammonia Cu2+ will be complexing and turning that exact colour

[@Buriaku]

He washed the AgCl/Hg2Cl2 precipitate several times with water. There should not be any copper left in there.

[@googleeatsdicks]

It could have also been nickel from the steel filings. Nickel(II) salts are green and also form a blue complex with ammonia. Hard to tell with all the impurities.

[@scottfirman]

[Whatever name goes here] You are correct. Copper and silver easily bond to gold,or the other way around. Codys methods are rudimentary. When he sells his collection eventually,they will probably discount it anyways for impurities.

[@theCodyReeder]

I've seen it before with no copper ever present.

[@LeeLee-fs9mv]

Electrolysis! ok hear me out, I'm a electrical engineer. you can use a arc to split the nitrogen in air into n2 then bubble it up though ammonia. This makes white fuming acid (I think its pure acid, after condensed with dry ice) and ammonia nitrate. You did a similar vid once

[@PixlRainbow]

Lee Lee that's not called electrolysis. Electrolysis is for liquids, and it takes advantage of the fact that ionic compounds dissociate naturally when in liquid or aqueous state. Making an arc in air is just forced ionization.

[@lajoswinkler]

Yes, it's not electrolysis. And you don't seem to know what you're doing, so it's best not to do it to avoid injuring/killing yourself.

[@PixlRainbow]

Lee Lee oh my God I can't believe I didn't notice you said "split the nitrogen into N2" when atmospheric nitrogen comes in the form of N2 to begin with.

[@LeeLee-fs9mv]

Hey Pixl Rainbow OwO what's this? XD add me on facebook cody boone

[@MrSlehofer]

isn't that Birkeland Eyde process or something?

[@StarScapesOG]

DANGER NOT-SO-MAD SCIENTIST AT WORK! Lots of fun chemistry in this one!

[@hetaira62080]

I get so exited when I see u uploaded man been watching for somthing round 4-5 years still love it

[@Elwould23]

what is the real value of mercury per pound? I have seen people say it was worth a dollar a pound and have seem it listed at a hundred thirty dollars a half pound. What is it really worth? Fair market value, ish.

[@lajoswinkler]

On average, the price fluctuates around 100 €/kg for virgin pure mercury. It's connected to the price of gold.

[@MaplePanda04]

Lajos Winkler Jeez that’s expensive. Cody is really lucky to have all that cinnabar.

[@lajoswinkler]

I think he had all that mercury already in elementary form. It's not actually that expensive.

[@tuff_lover]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT, NEW EP! we need more o;

[@sahajsarup]

YES! Another one of Precious metal recovery videos... Thanks!

[@kenjett2434]

Sweet best Cody's lab vid seen in awhile this was quite educational and well done

[@wintrparkgrl]

nile red colab when?

[@S3v3n13tt3r5]

see video, gasp in excitement, click video, click like

[@muddboss5700]

you are one of the reasons why i really like science and stuff

[@TehKane3322]

Yay, Ads! Don't skip em, must watch at least 35 seconds!

[@michaelgroff7309]

I have KZbin red I don't get ads

[@mobspeak]

Because of the Adpocalypse, his videos probably get demonetized anyway, plus he's got Patreon so I wouldn't worry about that. Get adblock.

[@michaelgroff7309]

mobspeak you get other benefits like being able to download videos music so on so on

[@JSnacks]

mobspeak no ad block. Remove it for youtube your being selfish

[@epicka]

Where's my link in the description? :(

[@theCodyReeder]

epicka Oh shoot I totally forgot

[@Psychx_]

I did this exact seperation of metals in my first chemistry lab session on college. Nice video Cody!

[@desposyy]

I love the fact that, while it looks like a child playing at science with food dye and bubbles, genuine chemistry is happening and is producing genuine results

[@Imillier123]

my buddy walked by after you added the acid to the silver solution after you filtered it and said "whats he doing with that bottle of milk?" and all i could think was, oh how you would have died in chemistry class...

[@elinor1968]

I sucked at chemistry in school but it sure is fun to see the reactions! I love watching these vidos "Look how awesome science is! You can get gold and silver from mercury!" Also please never work with organic mercury! I saw a video about a woman who spilled 2 drops of it on her gloved hand and it pretty much ruined her brain because it stayed in her fat and the brain is 40%(?) fat. :)

[@yomamaisaniceperson2707]

Me thinks that video is bullshit. Cody has dipped his entire hand in mercury, and he's still good

[@mcrazy2080]

yomama isaniceperson organic mercury, and mercury salts are very toxic. Cody dipped his hand into elemental mercury which does not get absorbed through skin. Still not a great idea to dip your hand into mercury, but Cody knew what he was doing.

[@elinor1968]

yomama isaniceperson it's different from regular mercury that he's working with. Organic mercury is from what I understand the same kind of mercury that you find in fish. That's why you shouldn't eat fish high in mercury since it goes to the fatty layers that protect the brain, nerve fires and spinal cord. The big difference is how you get exposed to them.

[@creamyl638]

This is my favorite thing to watch on KZbin!

[@ryankillian8597]

Oh my gosh a new precious metal refining video! these are so freaking satisfying to watch dude

[@jaapverhoeven873]

I should be studying

[@xXFeralArtsXx]

Jaapieh You are.

[@ink2476]

Cody sounded so disappointed that the mercury (I) chloride wasn't that black....

[@theCodyReeder]

InkSoul 232 Normally it makes a very nice velvety black color

[@datgamerboy123]

I absolutely love your videos Cody! Keep up the great work! 😀😊☺

[@dylancochran7213]

I love what you are doing, keep it up cody.

[@keniak1-g960]

are you walter white but doing legal stuff?

[@theCodyReeder]

Keniak1-G9 I am the yong Walter white

[@keniak1-g960]

lol incredible :v