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Techniques for CollectorsInterseting website
29th May 2012 17:19 UTCRon Layton
30th May 2012 20:06 UTCDonald Peck
31st May 2012 01:44 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
31st May 2012 15:32 UTCDonald Peck
31st May 2012 17:02 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
1st Jun 2012 05:39 UTCRon Layton
2nd Jun 2012 19:42 UTCJohn Attard Expert
I like your comparison of blowpipe analysts and politicians!
Now, regarding burners. By far my favorite is a propane burner that one can buy from anywhere in the US with a tip by "Benzomatic"
There are various kinds but if you decide to go this way I suggest to get the one that is NOT self igniting because that one though more expensive does not produce a pointed and controllable flame for experimental.purposes. To obtain the luminous flame you may need to partially close the airhole with some Al foil. The burner is a very versatile tool for all things not just mineralogical.
John Attard.
2nd Jun 2012 21:42 UTCHoward Heitner
2nd Jun 2012 23:36 UTCJim Robison
It has been too many decades since I last used a blowpipe, although I still have one. My recollection, upon reading your comments, was that a bunsen burner - which I used - based on natural gas (methane) worked quite well for either oxidizing or reducing tests. Don Peck's book on Mineral Identification has a good clear explanation of the various parts of the flame profile, and I do not recall much difficulty, with a little practice, in being able to generate either an oxidizing or reducing flame by aiming the blowpipe tip into the appropriate part of the flame, and by manipulating the position of the test sample in the blowpipe flame. Use of a small charcoal block also greatly enhances development of a reducing environment when needed.
The reference on blowpipes at the top of this thread includes an excellent e-booxs citation to an early (1850's) comprehensive manual of the use of a blowpipe. I couldn't get the figures to come up, but the text is imminently readable.
I haven'd used a propane torch, but suspect that with practice a user can also develop a clearly defined flame profile allowing the proper test flame.
3rd Jun 2012 07:15 UTCJohn Attard Expert
As far as I know "water gas" was never supplied to the public as town gas because its 50% CO was understandably considered too toxic. Many places including the labs that these workers used was coal gas; granted that this probably varied from place to place.
Back to use of propane you would be surprised how good a reducing agent it is used with the blowpipe over charcoal. One may mention that the species in the flame may not be propane itself but highly reactive species generated from it.
3rd Jun 2012 10:30 UTCBart Cannon
"Identification and Qualitative Chemical Analysis of Minerals"
Orsino C. Smith, Van Nostrand, 1953.
It has lovely color plates showing the sublimates from blowpipe tests of various mineral elements as well as borax beads..
Plus details on circular breathing.
Bart
6th Jun 2012 01:50 UTCEugene & Sharon Cisneros Expert
The attached photo shows how I developed my circular breathing and blowpipe technique.
Cheers,
Gene
6th Jun 2012 07:13 UTCRock Currier Expert
Don't use your technique on micromounts. It is only good for boulder size specimens.
18th Jun 2012 01:56 UTCHoward Heitner
Water gas was delivered to homes in many countries, before the 1940's. Putting ones head in the oven was a common method of committing suicide.
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Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 26, 2024 13:48:24