Floating gold phenomenon
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 พ.ย. 2018
- Crazy floating gold phenomenon explained. Why does gold float even though it is so dense and heavy. This video show gold floating, explains why it does and tells you how to prevent it from happening to you.
This video is produced by Dan Hurd, Prospector, Miner, Teacher and TH-camr, as part of his TH-cam channel based on educational videos about gold mining, gold panning, prospecting, rock hounding, and mineral collecting.
/ danhurd
Well, there you go. I always thought it floated because it was so small and flat it just happened. I didn't know gold was actually hydrophobic! I'm a horticulturalist and understand the hydrophobic relationship in soils, but this is a new tidbit 😁 thanks Dan 👍 legend!!!
You are welcome, thanks for watching.
Great informative video Dan. These educational videos are actually what drew me to your channel in the first place. When I first started prospecting I watched the entire series you filmed in your High School class and learned a ton. Thanks again.
I would like to do more educational videos, just running out of good topics.
@@Danhurd You should do a series on a DIY highbanker. That would keep you busy for a few episodes at least and it would be super awesome for all of your viewers who like highbanking.
So if I cover myself in gold, could I float across the river?
Pauly, I don't think you've quite found enough.. and we know how much you love getting in the water
Let's test it!
Your going to have to be older to get this but I'm going to do it anyway.
If you cover yourself in gold how would you go to the bathroom? Someone let me know you got that one please😃😃😃
Lol...👍
@@Danhurd Do you think gold would float on dirty to even really muddy water, or would there be even less surface tension?
Love your videos! Always fun and educational plus entertaning to watch you work with gold. Keep up the great work!
As long as you keep watching, I'll keep making them.
The best demonstration and explanation of the effect I have seen. Makes me jealous. :-) Really looking forward to seeing how YOU clean up.
I plan on showing three ways, basic panning, tap method, and my favorite, the back wash.
Top notch Dan.. I can tell that you really are a real teacher now.. very good explanation.. take care buddy.. Scotland out
Thanks for watching. Good luck out there.
A+ demonstration Mr. Hurd, Thank You!
Thanks.
A great movie! I know this phenomenon well. I use dishwashing liquid to remove them. But I did not know why gold floats on the water. Now I know! Thank you, Mr. Hurd!
You are welcome.
Dan, Many thanks for the lessons You have taught so many prospectors, Very informative content.
Always wanted know why gold floated on my pan , thx for explaining it, Dan !
Great video and very educational. Thanks Dan
Like always great video look forward to the next ones coming up
Should be out soon!
Thanks Dan another great video. Really good explanation. I subbed to you before and glad I did.
Thanks!
2:52 love the shot of you wearing speedy sunnies 🤣🤣🤣 that's made my day how you snuck that in LMAO
I've always heard this can be a problem, but never seen it demonstrated this well... very awesome demo.
Thanks
May never get to implement the knowledge but I seriously enjoy learning from you Dan.
Well I'm glad you enjoyed
Well done Dan and important instruction! Thanks very much! HH
You are welcome.
I could never stop watching like i said I keep learning something different or better ways of doing things thank you
You are welcome.
Very helpful video. I'm just learning to pan gold and I had some floaters and could not understand why some of the gold was sliding down the pan and some floating. It was from pay dirt and I was told it was real gold.
Fascinating, thank you for the explanation. Wild how the combination of the surface tension and the hydrophobic properties of gold over come the fact that gold is 19x heavier than water!
Dang always something new to learn I guess people that are around gold operations know this. Its amazing for me to see this. Another great lesson thanks
You are welcome.
I was taught this when I first started panning back in the 90's. Since then I always keep jet dry in my prospecting pack, yes dish soap will work too. Thank you for sharing and helping others understand this phenomenon.
You are welcome.
Great video, many thanks!
This was an awesome video. Thank You 😊
You are welcome.
Great basics of surface tension allot easier to understand thanks and prospect on.
You are welcome.
Awesome demonstration thanks for the info
You are welcome.
Wow,so fascinating.i love learning 😬
Very good video
Thanks
Great video can't wait to learn more from you
I hope it all helps.
I'm still new to the panning and have only been out 2 times lol
Thank you Teacher, great lesson
You are welcome.
Great video Dan i put a little jet dry in my snuffer bottle the area I prospect has alot of fine gold works great!👍🐍
great idea
I like the lesson on floating gold, Happy panning Dan.
Glad you enjoyed.
Great explanation and tip!!!!
Hope it helps.
looking forward to the next lot of videos
Hopefully out soon.
Island of gold sounds good to me ;-) Going to book my flight there now lol. Great explanation.
thanks for watching.
ladies and gentlemen here I show you the trailer of Gandalf the gold of the movie the Lord of Gold
I thought I was Gandalf the geting-greyer.
I always wondered about that thanks for sharing.
You are welcome
great video/ you are a excellent teacher
Thanks
Thank you Dan that was fun
You are welcome.
Great demonstration Dan, of what happens when a very thin layer of air gets under that fine gold island can get swooshed right out of the pan.
Thanks!
Wow AU is hydrophobic 😳 Who knew? You! Thank you so much for sharing this with us 🌟👍
Well I'll be, you learn something new every day. Thanks Dan
Never stop learning.
Thank you for all your great videos 🥰 I got into gold prospecting 14 years ago and learned the various forms of prospecting and concentrate clean-up from seasoned miners and professionals. But due to all the horrific wildfires in California in recent years, that kept thwarting my weekend outings, I began focusing on metal detecting at the beach, which I love, and occasional metal scrapping.
But right now, "thanks" to the COVID-19 pandemic, I'm working on a small pile of concentrates from years ago. However, the mix of mica-dust and gold-dust (flower gold, micron-gold) is driving me nuts. It travels and floats together, all happily mixed together - and when using jet-dry, they both sink together as well. How can I separate this glittery dust in an environmentally-friendly way while living in an apartment?
Great info thank you!
You are welcome.
Cool Great tip i never knew gold floated. Thank you
You're welcome!
Hey ho Dan. Great explanation. Greetings
Hope it Helps.
I feel it worth mentioning.... Three ways to combat floating gold... jet dry (or surfactant, making things slippery) as you mention here.... secondly water temperature.... warmer water-- or hot water--- the water molecules are moving and there for can't hold the weight of the gold... and finally--- turbulence.
Thanks for the info.
Nice video thank you sir
When I get floating gold, mostly foils as I recover used gold mostly, I simply like when it floats and use that to wash it away from the electrical components. I will also dip it off the top with a spoon and put in to another container to later filter it out of the water.
Good luck with that gold.
Earned a new sub 👍
Dollar General in my area started selling DG brand of Jet Dry! Nice!
A better question: Why do the separate islands of floating gold attract each other? Screen a bunch of -30 mesh and get as much as you can to float. Set the pan down on a firm surface in a room with no air currents and observe. The little islands of floating gold will be attracted to each other, and given enough time, they will all come together into one pool.
Beneath each island of floating gold, there is a slight depression in the surface of the water. The larger the "island", the deeper the depression. You might think the smaller islands are simply flowing downhill towards the larger islands, but that is not the case. The floating islands are attracted to each from a distance beyond the radius of their depressions! You will also notice the larger the island, the further the distance away it will pull a smaller island to itself. At the last second, when the smaller island does enter the depression of the larger island, they will come together rapidly as gravity does enter the equation. However, I think the initial attraction of the small separate islands to slowly migrate towards each other is electrical. I also think if this phenomenon could be better understood, maybe we could amplify it somehow, and take advantage of it for recovery. Would like to know your thoughts.
Wouldn't the gold still displace the water causing a slight elevation leading the smaller gold islands floating to the bigger ones. What do you think?
I think there is another force at work in there. Just not sure what it is. Initially I thought it was just the depression the gold is making on the water. But it seems to act over a larger distance than the depression. It can be static, that would push them apart. Something is happening in there.
Something is definitely happening in there, and it is not the depression in the water. If you ever figure this out I would like to know. You can reach me via my youtube channel liberty gold mine.
This property is not unique to gold. If you've ever eaten Cheerios in milk, you can see the same principle at play or something that acts similarly. The islands of cheerios agglomerate into larger islands.
watched a few of your vids now, and I believe you enjoy finding gold. I'm pretty sure.
Yes I do
another great video from Dan "shiny in the pan" Hurd!
;)
Well explained Dan..
You would think 🤔 there must be some sort of Silicon property in the Gold also...?
Cheers Tony.👍🤓🍺⛏
Ya, it is similar.
Good job Dan entertaining and informative meat and potatoes
Thanks!
Thank you
great job ! do you sell any gold and how do you go about getting the most out of your hard work? equipment care and maintenance? just spitballing some ideas.
Thanks for the ideas
Dan, excellent quality video, as usual. Given the "common knowledge" that black sand contains one ounce of flour gold per ton, I have always kept my black sand. When I mix it with borax, for example, and fire it in a crucible, I'm always concerned all this flour gold may not melt and flow thru the slag (glass) like I would like it to do. Any suggestions on "wetting" borax just a little more or cheaply (without cyanide or mercury) processing it differently to capture a higher percentage?
You need a capture metal. Check out my videos on smelting. I use lead to capture the gold. then cupel to remove the lead.
Hay Dan love watching your video.can I ask what kind of go pro you use thanks in advance stay cool peace out
I don't use a GoPro I use a simple point and shoot camera and my cell phone.
I remember when I first saw floating gold. It amazed me then I got upset cuz it was hard to separate. Then I just started snuffing right off the surface.. it actually became easier to recover my flood gold..
Nice video, learned a lot today. Can i meet with you next year? As a tourist i can not pan for gold, only with a claimowner.
Before the days of jet dry we used Dawn dish soap. Great video
Yes soap works, but the suds get in the way some.
@@Danhurd
That was the best we had at the time, only used a couple of drops and the suds weren't bad
Another property of placer gold that makes it float that much easier is that gold tends to be pounded flat between rocks as they tumble downstream thereby increasing its surface area. Added to those properties you describe Dan, we have the makings for a golden surf board. Hang ten!!
Surf is up!
Hello Dan Hurd, do you know if really small pieces of pyrite can float that way? Also, which is the best low cost method for ultra-fine gold recovery?. I am currently panning in the Cauca river (Colombia-South America) and the gold there is really fine so I am not sure if I am losing any substantial amount.
Had a major problem with gold not releasing from very dense mud when panning 40yrs ago.
Clay type mud can do that.
HA! So there's a chance i was right! My husband said it wasn't gold, since it was floating and/or sitting on top of the dense, wet silt. I did take a bit home & it tested as gold, but he still said "it couldn't be, gold is too heavy." He may not like that I will be feeling a bit smug today! 🤣
Thank you, Dan!
I do hate it when gold floats. We use jet dry and when we don't have jet dry we have used dish detergent, I like the jet dry the best.
Ya, soap can bubble too much.
I know the problem. Here in Germany there are not so much nuggets more flakes. Thanks for showing. Greetings Goldjunge Tom
You are welcome!
@@Danhurd I save for the flight, so I can rob your claim on Fraser. * smile
Don't quite know how I missed this one, sorry! But, I did learn something! I fell for the oil reasoning. Now I know that gold is like a cat! Thanks Dan!!
9 lives? jk
@@Danhurd lol
nice video it is very interesting
Thanks for watching.
Jet dry works great! I only use it at home cleaning up the gold from last bit of black sands bc its not worth my time and effort to do that in the field.
Agree
Dan, I never knew gold is hydrophobic. Good to know!
Glad I could help.
Very interesting. Does this means that some rule of thumb will change regarding where in a creek for example you should look for gold,?
Yes, every creak is different, but floating gold does not really effect gold deposits in a river.
I drove through Hope on my way to Oroville Friday, and I was thinking "Hey' I bet I'm near Dan right now."
I'm in the Kelowna area.
Yes those floaters are bad jet dry good thanks Dan!!!; )
You are welcome.
I think diamond is also hydrophobic compared to other stones.
Thank you Dan The teacher, I appreciate this.
Yes they are.
If your not recirculating your water, how would you keep jet dry in your Highbanker so the good doesn’t float out while highbanking.
Part of the property that makes it float is it has been pounded flat and is not very thick. I have never seen any nugget or thicker piece float. Just the flat flakes.
Some of those flakes are exceedingly flat due to the extremely malleable property of gold to hold together almost down to several atoms thick.
Yes, good point.
I've seen it and thought " nah gold doesn't float " then let it go with the light stuff now I know better
When I was out over the summer I found a couple of flakes that were floating in a little pool that was left as the river depth went down.
Cool, I have never seen it in nature without some help from a prospector.
@@Danhurd yeah, I was surprised when I saw them just floating there. They're in a glass vial on my desk now.
With gold being hydrophobic will it float out of a high banker when you shutdown and start back up to get more material?
I wonder if you made a yacht out of 24 karat gold would it not break the surface tension or would it sink because it weighs 24000 tons
Is there something to reduce surface tension that isn’t so bad if end up in creek?
i never used a blue pan what is the advantage over black and greeen
I got a large quantity of sand that my I got from my grandpa how could I process all of it quickly and still get out all the gold from the material? I got a dump yard pull behing yard wagon pulled by lawn tractor.
Greatings from Venezuela!!! Dan...how contradictory is this...gold is more heavy than wather...and sinks usually...but then...also floats over it...because of the surface tension...weird isn't it!?
Very!
another 3am video.. worth being awake for. :)
You know you can watch them when you get up at a reasonable hour!
I saw someone this summer who was very good a getting CLEAN flaky gold from heavy black sands using a tapping method. I'll watch yours, and if his is competitive or better I will let you know.
Wait till I show my complete method before you make a judgment.
@@Danhurd Roger that. OTOH I can already commend your teaching style.
Water surface tension from tap is 73 dynes per centimeter. Boiling water is 55 dynes per centimeter. Alcohol is 33 dynes per centimeter.
Good information - thanks! What is when jet dry is added?
@@Danhurd I don't know. But there are aquatic concerns with jet dry. Alcohol is the main surfactant. Few drops of alcohol would work great.
Wow ! 😨 didn't even know Gold could do that!
I know! You would think with it being so heavy.......
I'm more impressed that the waters doing it
I always thought that was pretty cool
Thanks for watching.
Is that where they get the name hard water? Our water here in California is very hard and spots our dishes. Thanks Dan.
Hard water is water with a lot of minerals dissolved in it.
Thats what jet dry is for breaks up the water surface tension
Yes.
Hi Dan. Nice video of the gold floating in the depression of the water surface.
So I was recently told that most water up in the woods has plant oils on the water surface (and in your sluice also). So does a drop of Dawn detergent work the same as a drop of Jet Dry in dealing with those oils? What’s your experience? Thanks !!
soap works too, but can cause lots of bubbling.
I read that if you add Epsom salts to the soapy water it cuts the foamy bubbles. I haven’t tried it yet. Getting pretty cold in Colorado.
Cool !!!!!
Yes!
Will pyrite do that aswell ?
What year did you start that badass beard?
About 5 years ago.
Gold floats , sounds like something you order at iceceam bar.
Yum!
Thanks ,teacher! Very interesting.!But now,replace that dish washer,oh,my god,She"s baaaaack!
I think she wants her Kitchen Table back too.
Do you season the finish pan the same as you do a regular pan? I ask because of the groves on the sides.
No, just use as is, maybe soap and water first, but nothing else.