Re: Gold in them thar Bills...

[Matthew J Ghio <mg5n+@andrew.cmu.edu>]

> Yes, as long it was been minted in a recognized form i.e. a gold eagle,
> a panda, or gold peso.  A gob of yellow shinny stuff is just that until
> it has been assayed, and then it is only as good as the backing or
> reputation of the assayer. 

I can easily determine with reasonable precision weather or not a lump
of yellow stuff is gold or not.  All I need is:

1) A glass of water and a balance scale to use Archimedes method (which
is reasonably accurate since there are very few metals heavier than
gold.  If I remember correctly, they are platinum, iridium, osmium, and
uranium..there might be one or two more.  They are all rare metals which
are nearly equal or greater in value than gold, except for uranium which
I could rule out pretty easily on the basis of its radioactivity)

or

2) A drop of nitric acid.  Nitric acid, (and several other acids as
well) will not react with gold, but will quickly oxidize iron pyrite,
bronze alloys, etc.  In fact, some companies like Edmund Scientific sell
chemical tests to check gold.