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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 2013431, member: 27832&quot;]The big reveal here for me was that it works so well to start with muriatic acid and sodium nitrate, instead of needing actual nitric acid. That stuff is quite expensive and hard to come by (and not very nice to have around).</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m interested in [USER=44268]@harris498[/USER]&#039;s idea, too. I guess you could start with sulfuric acid instead of hydrochloric, and that way you wouldn&#039;t be making aqua regia -- but you&#039;d need something other than cotton or paper to do your filtration, unless you neutralize carefully first (in some way that doesn&#039;t precipitate gunk back onto your gold). Sulfuric acid plus nitric acid equals nitrating acid, and turns cotton or paper into nitrocellulose. It won&#039;t go boom without provocation, but it won&#039;t hold up very well in your funnel, either.</p><p><br /></p><p>See, this is the kind of chemistry that I swore off when I realized what a hassle it would be to deal with accidents. But it&#039;s <i>sooo</i> tempting to dust off the glassware and do a little experimentation...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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