40
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
Other than a nuclear reactor, the only chance is to dump it into a volcano. Having a much higher density than magma, it will just fall through until it hits earth's mantle. Then it's really gone. OK, ...
- 12.3k
34
votes
Is "stainless" a bulk or a surface property of stainless steel?
Let's divide the steel world into two classes: 1) rusting steel and 2) stainless steel.
Rusting steel, in the presence of oxygen and moisture, will oxidize, forming hydrated iron oxides/hydroxides ...
- 14.3k
33
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
Not destroying gold, but still giving a good appearance, is this time-honored story of how two golden Nobel prizes were "hidden" from the Nazis by dissolving the gold into aqua regia. The aqua regia, ...
- 62.5k
33
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
As other answers have pointed out, you can't 'destroy' gold chemically.
Putting it in a nuclear reactor for an extended period of time will functionally convert most of it to an isotope of mercury. ...
21
votes
Accepted
Is "stainless" a bulk or a surface property of stainless steel?
It is usually a bulk property though you would need to know exact regulations for your country to be certain.
Stainless steel is steel (i.e. iron + a little bit of carbon) alloyed with another metal (...
- 3,042
14
votes
Accepted
If a crystal has alternating layers of different atoms, will it display different properties depending on which layer is exposed?
A good question, but not sure it's possible, at least by polishing the given structure: if the boride layer is tightly bonded, I'd imagine it would be hard to remove such a layer, leaving the isolated ...
- 35.3k
13
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
If you don't use any nuclear technology, you can't destroy gold.
Everything that you can do to the gold, can be undone.1
What you can do: you can make its reconstruction economically infeasible.
...
- 936
11
votes
Is "stainless" a bulk or a surface property of stainless steel?
"Stainless" is not a specific definition. The stainless steel with the least alloy is $5\% \; \ce{Cr}$ ( grade 501) according to AISI (It can't be cut with an oxygen/acetylene torch-like regular steel)...
- 3,787
11
votes
Accepted
Effect of solutes on surface tension
Davies and Rideal1 published the following graph. This graph nicely describes the action of various solutes on a solution.
It's clearly visible that:
Addition of $\ce{MeOH}$ reduces the surface ...
- 6,338
10
votes
Accepted
When using LPCVD, is it possible to pattern a silicon wafer with poly-silicon using a mask?
In my fab experience, the answer is no, you are not going to inhibit deposition of silicon with some other material. You might well change the final grain size, but it will deposit. Furthermore, LPCVD ...
- 8,691
10
votes
How to remove stain from pavement after having dropped sulfuric acid on it?
You did the right thing by neutralizing with a base.
The best solution is to let time heal the stain. The surface is obviously damaged, but there is no way to reverse that damage. The stain will only ...
- 42.6k
10
votes
Why are van der Waals' forces between gas molecules strong near its critical temperature?
Critical temperature is kind of measure of the strength of intermolecular van der Waals force.
Comparison of actual and critical temperature is kind of comparison of average kinetic energy of ...
- 44.7k
9
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
Gold is extremely difficult to get rid of, either chemically or physically.
Gold is produced when a massive star goes supernova. Every single atom of gold in the entire universe is the result of the ...
- 191
9
votes
Is "stainless" a bulk or a surface property of stainless steel?
Quick and simple:
Steel = iron + carbon (less than 2%; also called "forgeable iron")
Adding chromium (min. 12 %) makes it stainless. These chromium atoms are spread over the full volume of your block,...
- 91
8
votes
If a crystal has alternating layers of different atoms, will it display different properties depending on which layer is exposed?
Undoubtedly yes. Giamello et al.[1] give an example involving a very subtle effect of this nature on a magnesium oxide (100) surface (meaning a square array of magnesium and oxygen atoms lying along ...
- 62.5k
8
votes
If a crystal has alternating layers of different atoms, will it display different properties depending on which layer is exposed?
Sure!
The example most surface scientists should be familiar with is that of alpha silicon carbide or $\ce{\alpha-SiC}$.
Alpha silicon carbide (α-SiC) is the most commonly encountered polymorph, and ...
- 5,997
7
votes
Hardy Schulze law
In order to explain the Schuze-Hardy rule, you have to take into account that you are working with a colloidal dispersions stabilized electrostatically.
The stability of this dispersions is well ...
- 1,194
7
votes
Would it be possible to destroy gold?
Gold has one principal isotope (gold-197) and all other isotopes are unstable and decay mostly by beta emission into isotopes of mercury. Given that its cross section is 98.7, it will act as a neutron ...
- 71
6
votes
Why even the most volatile solvents leave a residue after evaporating?
If the surface material is clean and neither soluble nor reactant in any way with the solvent, then it is probably a solvent purity issue. If you have a good micro-balance, you could pour a known ...
- 17.7k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the chemical structure of ceramic nonstick coating on pans?
There is a near continuum (and thus a potential infinitude) of relative concentrations of the different components of ceramics and their means of fabrication, but US Patent US7879449 B2 (PDF) gives a ...
- 17.7k
6
votes
Accepted
How does water freeze and crystallize on a cold superhydrophobic surface?
As acknowledged in your question, there are a large number of factors at play here. The most basic of these is that there are three fundamental mechanisms by which freezing of a droplet can initiate ...
- 17.7k
6
votes
Where does the potential energy of capillary action come from?
Where does this potential energy of capillary action come from, or is this an exception or something?
First, the laws of thermodynamics still apply. Second, you have to account for the energy balance ...
- 42.3k
6
votes
If something is not hydrophilic, is it necessarily hydrophobic?
Two water drops 1 mm apart do not attract each other, if I omit gravity and electrostatic charges. Are they hydrophobic ? No, they are not. The relevant intermolecular forces are contact ones, ...
- 44.7k
6
votes
Accepted
LEED - determining surface structures
An incomplete list of suggestions:
From the position of the spots, did you determine their mutual distances (e.g., to discern a square from a rectangle), and angles if you connect «the dots»? Beside ...
- 31.3k
5
votes
Accepted
What, if any, are the differences between hemiwicking and wicking?
I'm not especially familiar with the detailed differences between the two much beyond the definitions you've posted here, but it seems to me that:
Wicking occurs in the bulk volume of a porous ...
- 17.5k
5
votes
Substances comprised of large molecules are liquids at room temperature?
You may give porphyrins a try. These dyes are of interest for molecular electronics, and to render them less crystalline / more glassy, alkyl chains are attached to the central motif. One recent ...
- 31.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Why does the BET equation take into consideration a multimolecular-layer, even though it deals with chemisorption?
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) explains the physical adsorption of gas molecules on a solid surface, and doesn't address chemisorption. Even the wikipedia link that you provided, makes that quite ...
- 8,525
5
votes
Accepted
How fast a surface oxide layer is formed on bulk chromium?
First, a definition of the Langmuir unit, used in the graph in the question, which is not often run across except by vacuum (particularly UHV) folks. One Langmuir is the exposure of a surface to a gas ...
- 8,691
5
votes
Accepted
Why does Freundlich adsorption isotherm not have a term for surface area?
The ratio
$$\frac{x}{m}= k P ^{1/n}$$
can be re-expressed in terms of the area $A$, surface-to-volume ratio $\lambda$, and density $\rho$ (note that $m=A\rho/\lambda)$:
$$\frac{x}{A}= k' P ^{1/n}$$...
- 22.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Why even the most volatile solvents leave a residue after evaporating?
The most common reason why evaporating solvents leave a residue is because they are good solvents and some of the surface or contaminants on the surface are dissolved in the solvent. This is very ...
- 37.8k
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