My great great grandfather grew up poor. One day he was walking through an alley or back road or something and practically tripped over a rock that he though for sure was gold. He thought he had saved the whole family from poverty. Had a real life willy wonka run home. Turns out it was a 10+ lb chunk of Pyrite. We still have it. It is gorgeous.
Fun fact. Usually in the same areas you find pyrite you find flint. Striking the 2 together gives you sparks as well. Otzi the iceman had a fire making kit on him with flint and pyrite. His corpse and belongings are dated between 3350 to 3105 BC. Making it one of the oldest primitive fire kits ever found.
I've heard people say "nature does not do (creates) right angles". Well Spanish Pyrite crystals grow as a cube. You can't get anymore natural right angles than a cube.
Whoever said that is dead wrong. As Cody pointed out, salt is cubic, but there are so many more minerals beyond that as well. Galena, fluorite, hematite, and many more. Heck, gold itself does a reasonably good impression of a right angle in it's natural form.
Usually when I have heard people say that they are talking about biological nature rather than geological. There are definitely edge cases even then, though (pun intended)
I live not too far from a town called Coarsegold California, that was once a mining town in the 1800s. On my property I have 2 seasonal streams. Pyrite is everywhere in my streams. If I try to work in them while the streams are running it gets all over me like glitter. I've found plenty of quartz rocks on my property, I have a granite boulder as big as my house in the middle of the property, and up against it I've found a few hunks of raw iron. No gold though! haha
Fun fact: in germany we call it "Katzengold" meaning Catgold. Don't ask me why. [edit: since now 6 persons asked "why?": its a bastardization of an old german word "Kazzūngold" meaning golden yellow cherry resin. Now stop it please... Also one source says it comes from the Word "Ketzer" meaning heretic, but thats a money blog so I don't trust that source, but google says "here, first result, thats what you searched for right?" I should start using the search function of wikipedia, way easier...]
3:10 first you burn sulfur with oxygen to make SO2, then you burn that with even more oxygen to make SO3 and THEN you mix it with water to make sulfuric acid. You don't go from SO2 straight to H2SO4
I commented on that too. I think back in the day they did something different, because you can't just burn SO2 into SO3. It needs heat, pressure and a catalyst for that in modern plants. I don't know it from the top of my head, but I think they must have used a strong oxidizer back then. [EDIT:] 3 Wikipedia articles later: They roasted iron(II)sulfate into iron(III)sulfate, which at sufficiently high temperatures decomposes to iron(III)oxide and SO3 . Later they used a better method, using HNO3 (even later just NO2) to oxidize SO2 (that's apparently what I remembered in my original post).
We used to search for it on our walk home from school when I lived in Quebec. The dirt they spread on the roads in the winter months contained it. It made for very fun walks!
Hey! You got the pyrite firestarter wrong! Pyrite was the first material that you could strike with flint (or any of many other easily found rocks) to make fire, not a replacement for flint! Pyrite was likely extremely important to prehistoric people because it could be used to make a fire well before iron smelting was invented.
He was right though in that he was talking about firearms initially in that context. Flint locks were a much cheaper alternative to complex wheel lock guns
@@RUGRAF-rf8fi I did post a very short form of this at the time I did the other post, though. So far, no one liked it, though xD . But it is there, somewhere in the comments. Soo... Sulfur DIoxide + water *dos not* make sulfurIC acid but sulfurOUS acid instead. That's where I thought "hold on, the video can't be right". To clarify: we indeed want to produce sulfurIC acid here. SulfurIC acid is H2SO4 whereas sulfurOUS acid is H2SO3. I did have a look on Wikipedia and historically there are different methods to make sulfuric acid. But for the time period mentioned in the video the so called vitriol process was widely used. It seems the video confuses iron sulfATE(s) and iron sulfIDE (=pyrite) and/or 2 different processes, because one of them actually uses pyrite and the other one uses sulfates. Iron sulfATE is FeSO4 or Fe2(SO4)3. Pyrite is iron sulfIDE is FeS2. At the temperature pyrite (iron sulfIDE) would decompose into sulfur DIoxide (SO2). At the temperature shown iron sulfATE would decompose into sulfur TRIoxide (SO3). They then "just add water", but... ...sulfur DIoxide + water forms sulfurOUS acid ...sulfur TRIoxide + water forms sulfurIC acid So this simple process diagram would only work with iron sulfATE (or maybe other sulfates) and the depiction and wording to "simply add water" to sulfur DIoxide and you get sulfurIC acid are simply wrong in every imaginable case. You always need sulfur TRIoxide to get sulfurIC acid. Today we produce sulfur DIoxide and then oxidize it at a catalytic surface to get sulfur TRIoxide. And only then the water is added ^^ . After the vitriol process they used the so called lead chamber process. Although this process might have been already known at the mentioned time period, the vitriol process was still widely used until about 1750. The process graphic for the lead chamber process would be much more complicated, so I don't think the video tried to depict this one but the vitriol process instead. Or they tried to find a process that used pyrite (because the video is ultimately about pyrite) and took a wrong turn. In any case it looks like both processes haven been mixed here. For the lead chamber process pyrite (and other sulfides) were indeed used, but they had to turn the sulfur DIoxide into sulfur TRIoxide. They did that by adding nitrogen dioxide through various means, which, being a strong oxidizer, in simple terms forced one of it's own oxygen atoms onto the sulfur DIoxide to turn it into TRIoxide. The process is much more complicated, because everything kinda mixes together and you don't simply get pure sulfurIC acid out of it, but it's more energy efficient. Sources: various Wikipedia pages, chemistry degree
@@RUGRAF-rf8fi wtf, I wrote an intricate answer, that took my adhd ass at least an hour, because hyperfixation and checks on Wikipedia and it got deleted? I swear the post did exist, I edited it like 1000 times after posting. 🤬😡😤 . Well, here is the short version: water + sulfur dioxide does not form sulfuric acid but sulfurous acid instead. They must have mixed up 2 similar but different processes and 2 similar sounding ores. @youtube: f you.
That is such a stupid saying. A FEW people made it rich selling shovels. Just like with any other market. There wasn't an unlimited amount of opportunity to just sell the tools. Just like now days, back then, the people with the best chances to make money were the people who already had money to buy supplies and surplus. No, making it rich selling the tools was just as luck based as finding the gold. Otherwise, everyone would be rich.
@@nerdjournal You're missing the point so hard I can't even begin to understand how. Seriously, it takes effort to have the point go over your head like that
@@Krypto137 Nvidia is getting rich selling GPU to AI'ers...but those AI'ers were already rich AND nvidia was already rich(thats his point, and its correct). Maybe OpenAI got rich, but they are just Microsoft now. Aint many poor people making AI in their home labs striking it rich. Aint many gold miners traveling across the country, staking a claim, and making it rich without some startup cash(which most people don't have).
I've been a prospector/miner for 12 years, and I can tell you that sulphide ore is among the best types of deposits to find when looking for gold, but generally there is a small part of the ore body which is naturally oxidized and not leeched out, generally close to the surface. As you dig deeper into these deposits, the rock can be made of solid pyrite, but after being dug up, dumped in a waste pile, and left to oxidize in the sun for a number of years, it becomes much easier to work with. Oxidation liberates the gold and allows you to easily crush and separate the values with standard gravity separation. Otherwise, roasting the ore is required, and as the video mentions, this requires a lot of energy. Old timers use to avoid sulphide unless it was incredibly rich, but they sought after sulphide deposits to "high grade" the oxidized materials that were easily available. It's important to note that the presence of sulphide is not an absolute indicator of the presence of gold, but noble and base metals can be precipitated with sulphur and halogen elements such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine, and are catalyzed by changes in pressure or pH in a hydrothermal solution.
and nobody uses flint to struck sparks anymore, today we use ferrocerium. Sadly, thats the Norm on SciShow, they are going down hill fast. for gods sake, DO YOUR RESEARCH SCISHOW. Its infuriating.
I posted an intricate comment, that took me at least an hour, about what probably went wrong with the research here. They probably mixed up 2 similar but different processes and 2 similar sounding ores. It was a bit on the chemical side, I believe that's the reason why it got deleted? (does youtube scan for chemical formulas??). I'm super urinated! 🤬
@@MaekarManastormI could compute another pun since you asked for another. Let me just pywrite some python code. Is that better or do you need more puns?
Pyrite needs no metal to make sparks. Archaicly, pyrite was struck by flint to start fires. The 'flint' in cigarette lighters isn't flint, it's mischmetal, a mix of rare earth elements.
Jeff Williams often brings up the old adage of prospectors looking for a mine --- gold rides an iron horse -- in a lot of those desert mines the veins carried quartz, pyrite, gold and other things .
fun fact, Pyrite is also a semiconductor which means it could be use to make computer processors. It is inferior to silicone but if there is ever a shortage, we have other options.
@@thekinginyellow1744 No. Though the main backbone atom of the molecule they use to make breast implants is the same element as the backbone atoms of a computer chip. That does not imply one is made from the other or that its molecular composition is in anyway compatible.
@@jenbanim Right. Dyslexia took my ability to spell long ago. Thank god for spell checker. Doesn't work though if you actually spell a word correctly but just use the wrong word.
@@zacthesecretweapon9931 What do you think fool means? Seems like dingue or cinglé would be closer to "crazy" as it's used in English. Regardless, I just think translating it to "madmen" is silly when it's clearly essentially the exact same concept, and "fools" is a perfectly adequate translation. "Gold of fools"
@@zacthesecretweapon9931 words are cognates if they have common ancestor, even if the meaning shifted and diverged over time. Since the Italian word for madness is „follia“ I suspect both „fou“ and „fool“ can be traced back to a Latin word meaning something along the lines of madness, madman, idiot…
@@rohansampat1995 I assure you there is little normal about me lol, however I really enjoy vanilla, its like lego, you dont want every piece possible to exist, the restrictions are what inspire creativity
@@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369 That is only true for like garbo visual / decorative mods. Also custom lego pieces have always existed and are pretty popular so that was a poor choice in analogy. Its like moving from legos to PCB design. A lot more tools, but a lot more outcome. I dont get to manage a whole factory, defend my base, grow food to eat, and create and fight more in vanilla. Vanilla is not creative, its just yawn. Modded when done properly transforms minecraft into a beast game that blends magic, tech, and ofcourse concepts from vanilla to enhance crafting, survival, building and everything. Its basically like adding more lego sets, and mixing them up and creating something brand new. Again, reallll bad analogy.
Fascinating, in light of ancestral veneration, with respect to inter-traditional iron & fire associations. Are they used as gastroliths, like Ravens use stones for digestion? Thank you, for adding this to the discussion!
Interestingly, the dodecahedron formed by pyrite isn't the regular platonic solid dodecahedron we're familiar with seeing for dice, it has slightly irregular pentagonal sides the create a shape called a pyritohedron. There are no regular dodecadedral crystals, but this is as close as they get
Silver and Gold won't save my rotting soul! Just break me down Can't bear no weight, Can't bear no Crown! I need a hand I can hold up I need the nickel and iron to outweigh desire By pulling me down, pulling me down Burn me to the ground! Burn me to the ground! (Burn me to the ground)
I found a crinoid fossil made of pyrite a few years ago. Very neat. In the rocks I have found containing that and many other crinoid fossils, I often see tiny (think less than half a mm) cubes of pyrite. Little sparkly inclusions.
The Rocks Box series has been excellent so far, both the content and the mineral samples. I'm so glad you folks had this idea, and are executing the whole thing so well! I look forward to this every month!!
I live along the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, we have tooooons of pyrite and gold lol. You can see where they took core samples on the beach 10 mins away from me. I have lots of shiny rocks 😄
3:14 Your chemistry isn't absolutely correct. H2SO4 is made by reacting SO3 with water, not SO2. While SO2 is produced by burning sulfur, the extremely caustic, dangerous SO3 is synthesized in a patented process using a V2O5 catalyst.
1:56 actually flint is not commonly used nor used in lighters. What is used is an alloy of rare-earth metals like cerium, lanthanum etc. called mischmetal. It's a metal not a stone like flint.
Carlin trend gold in Nevada is microscopic gold inside of arsenic rich pyrite. It has made Nevada one of the most productive gold mining regions in the world
Fun fact: modern day strikers and lighters don’t use flint but rather ferrocerium and works adversely to flint and steel, in a flint and steel mechanism the flint knocks off pieces of steel while in a ferrocerium and steel mechanism pieces of ferrocerium are knocked off.
There is gold in pyrite, but it is EXTREMELY small that you need the most advance electron microscope on the Eastern Seaboard to see the gold in pyrite. But fool’s gold also contains silver, copper, lithium, nickel, titanium and cobalt.
I wanted to do a comparison of all the “Gold Simulants” sometime. I don’t love the “opulent” aesthetic, but outside of that Gold can all sorts of aesthetic uses. Seeing how they all compare vs proper Gold would be neat. Iron and Cheap Sulfur being the core of some really cool art or architectural installations while leaving the Real Gold for important uses would be neat.
As someone working in gold exploration as a geologist, pyrite is one of our biggest key signs of gold. If we see pyrite, quartz veins, low competency rocks, and deformation, that's a likely target for gold. I am working at a future mine site, and the rock core from drilling we are pulling up near the gold bearing zones is about 60% pyrite. The mechanics of why gold is found with pyrite are extremely complex and require a significant knowledge of geology to understand so I won't try to explain it here, but they are related.
Sulfur dioxide also was used as a refrigerant for a long time (and still is in old fridges). I have a GE monitor top that runs SO2 refrigerant. It might just come back as a refrigerant for heat pumps because it's capable of condensing temperatures of 240F+. A perfect refrigerant for the second stage of a cascading heat pump.
I made self running (unpowered) crystal AM band radios growing up and used 1/4 to 1/2 inch pyrite nuggets as a primitive semi conducting diode by carefully placing a thin wire on certain spots of the pyrite to get a louder radio sound on my earphone. These days, a tiny factory made 1n34a germanium diode is a more easy, convenient and effective means of crystal radio operation. but using old school pyrite or lead crystal based galena as a diode can be a fun experiment too.
Wait a second, the little hand that gave you the lighter was uncredited! So, let me say great job, little hand, I've been where you were once, and I feel you.
Fun fact pure copper its actually not economically feasible to mine. Gums up the equipment. So it's actually better to mine it in impure ores then melt it out rather than ruin equipment on pure deposits.
i have so many memories going into the science stores as a kid and always wanting to buy pyrite. I love how I can stare at it and lose focus and it sparkles in the coolest way…I love pyrite, it’s truly a beautiful crystal
Wow! So I’m not crazy after all to think that pyrite can be connected to real gold. They often bond together… Fools gold after all could contain real gold!!😊😅😂
I thought for sure he'd mention that it can essentially mold. I was super curious so I scampered off to check the pyrite beads that I bought roughly 20 years ago. Sure enough. Pyrite mold.
I remember learning about pyrite on an episode of a late 70's, or early 80's television series (Little House on the Prairie?). One of the children on the show was sneaking off to 'mine' the gold they had found, and eventually plunked down a bag at the local assayer's office, only to learn that it was "Fool's Gold". Does anyone else remember that episode, and what show it was from?
I was enjoying a day on the beach with a friend when we found a deposit of clay. We started playing with the clay then and suddenly my friend pulled out a cube of pyrite. It was a couple of inches wide and quite a surprise!
Sulfur dioxide and water form *sulfurous* acid. Oxidize to sulfur trioxide, dissolve in oleum, then dilute. EXOTHERMS! "Grind" pulverize. Flotation beneficiation requires heavily sulfuretted carbon compounds binding to then rendering the copper hydrophobic, floating to the surface with the bubble froth, then skimmed.
@@care2guess Everybody knows the destination, nobody knows the trip. Nothing in the world is simple. A chemical engineer can spend his career massaging a petroleum distillation tower. A new manager then comes along and saves a bundle on "routine maintenance" by replacing a really expensive, large radius high alloy elbow with above spec black iron...that is decarbonized by hot hydrogen in the process stream. Big meeting - "we want to maximize collisions in a fluidized bed. Make the stack elliptical for collisions at the foci. Manager, "we use ROUND pipe for fluidized beds. Civilization vs. sparrow farts.
Galaxy Quest (1999) Sir Alexander Dane : Could they be the miners? Fred Kwan : Sure, they're like three years old. Sir Alexander Dane : MINERS, not MINORS. Fred Kwan : You lost me. 🤣
3:13 Adding SO2 to water does not make sulphuric acid. This makes sulphurous acid, a much weaker sulphitic acid. Sulphuric acid can only be made from SO3, which requires further oxidation of SO2, and is much more complicated than the initial roasting of sulphur. A catalyst is needed plus a carefully designed burning chamber to achieve full conversion of SO2 to SO3.
I am so disappointed you did not mention pyrite Suns at all!! If anybody knows a good buyer for these beautiful unique little minerals please let me know!!
Our local abandoned gold pit mine had to close because the pyrite was so thick it was messing up the extraction process.Thats what we were told. Carson hill mine is now used for road gravel.
i own multiple acres of private beach on a secluded island in Alaska that has a BUNCH of fool's gold on it. Anyway i can get that stuff into the hands of people who can use it??
I found a piece of gold pyrite about the size of a medium potato. It was pretty with gold crystals showing over most of the outside. I kept it on my desk as a sort of paperweight, until some fool stole my fool's gold.
Sulfur sells for about $100 per ton, so I would go with gold over pyrite. I don't have anything against sulfur or copper, but they are cheap and abundant.
My step-dad worked on the Channel Tunnel. He operated the Alimak. He has a lot of Iron Pyrite that was taken from the tunnel when it was being excavated. There wasn't any gold found in the tunnel. He has around 60kg of Fools Gold sat in a cupboard.
Certain forms of Pyrite can also be found on beaches in England, I started collecting it because it was pretty while fossil hunting, not sure what form of pyrite it is, but it sure is pretty!
Usually pyrite and gold are both mixed into quartz veins. Traditionally you just crush it all and then pan out the gold as it's the heaviest element there.
although sulphur dioxide can be directly dissolved into water to form sulphuric acid, its not generally done that way since it is a highly exothermic reaction. instead it is dissolved in sulphuric acid which is then diluted with water
When I saw fools gold crystals for the first time as a little boy, it was instant love. They are more shiny than real gold. The crystal structure with all these reflecting surfaces gives them a whole different quality.
Not the first I've run into chalcopyrite. I was working on some project and we were pushing out a "gold edition" except that the project wasn't even finished yet, so we were joking about it being the Pyrite Edition, except even that was too ostentatious, so I went looking for "fools silver" (doesn't exist) and ran into "fools copper" aka chalcopyrite.
My great great grandfather grew up poor. One day he was walking through an alley or back road or something and practically tripped over a rock that he though for sure was gold. He thought he had saved the whole family from poverty. Had a real life willy wonka run home. Turns out it was a 10+ lb chunk of Pyrite. We still have it. It is gorgeous.
thats a good story.
Some fools good contain 5% or less gold but in trace mineral form
Lol willy wonka tun home
how does one find a random chunk of pyrite on the road?
@@naaat beats me
In the pyrite community we refer to gold as "fools pyrite"
There's really a community for everything huh?
@@conlon4332as someone in the community community, yep.
@@conlon4332 yeah , even a community for community.
@@conlon4332 Yes, as a member of the everything community I can confirm
@@conlon4332 yes. And technically speaking, by commenting, you are now part of the TH-cam commentary community. 😏
Fun fact. Usually in the same areas you find pyrite you find flint. Striking the 2 together gives you sparks as well. Otzi the iceman had a fire making kit on him with flint and pyrite. His corpse and belongings are dated between 3350 to 3105 BC. Making it one of the oldest primitive fire kits ever found.
He also had cannabis seeds!!
I was surprised they didn't mention this. Possibly being half of humanities' first fire making tool seems pretty important!
He had cannabis also, the Egyptian mummies had coca leaf in there tombs???? They had boats, they had to be in south america.
@@delresearch5416 source?
@@delresearch5416 Lmao cap
I've heard people say "nature does not do (creates) right angles". Well Spanish Pyrite crystals grow as a cube. You can't get anymore natural right angles than a cube.
Pure salt crystals are cubes also
Whoever said that is an idiot
Whoever said that is dead wrong. As Cody pointed out, salt is cubic, but there are so many more minerals beyond that as well. Galena, fluorite, hematite, and many more. Heck, gold itself does a reasonably good impression of a right angle in it's natural form.
@@thundersheild926bismuth is the coolest thing that makes right angles
Usually when I have heard people say that they are talking about biological nature rather than geological. There are definitely edge cases even then, though (pun intended)
I live not too far from a town called Coarsegold California, that was once a mining town in the 1800s. On my property I have 2 seasonal streams. Pyrite is everywhere in my streams. If I try to work in them while the streams are running it gets all over me like glitter. I've found plenty of quartz rocks on my property, I have a granite boulder as big as my house in the middle of the property, and up against it I've found a few hunks of raw iron. No gold though! haha
Bet theres gold somewhere around you
Probably have already done this, but have you ruled out mica flakes?
Cool story
Hey if there was pyrite in your streams at that level, your water would be quite acidic and brown and ugly. Are you sure that is not mica?
@@1TakoyakiStore Yes. Mica flakes used to be used in gold paint. Pyrite is heavier.
Fun fact: in germany we call it "Katzengold" meaning Catgold. Don't ask me why. [edit: since now 6 persons asked "why?": its a bastardization of an old german word "Kazzūngold" meaning golden yellow cherry resin. Now stop it please... Also one source says it comes from the Word "Ketzer" meaning heretic, but thats a money blog so I don't trust that source, but google says "here, first result, thats what you searched for right?" I should start using the search function of wikipedia, way easier...]
But, why?
@@tonysirmixalot3546 Its a mutation of language, originally it was "Kazzūngold" an old german word for "golendyellow cherry resin", you are welcome.
Maybe it catfishes people by looking like gold? 😂
Finnish languge loaned the Germanic word and we have kissankulta
@@SimuLord nice one!
3:10 first you burn sulfur with oxygen to make SO2, then you burn that with even more oxygen to make SO3 and THEN you mix it with water to make sulfuric acid. You don't go from SO2 straight to H2SO4
This channel always over simplifies. I think their target is US high school (a very low bar)
It's more of a turnstile than a bar
Great that I'm not the only one who noticed.
@@thekinginyellow1744 It's not an oversimplification to conflate sulfuric acid with sulfurous acid. It's just wrong.
I commented on that too. I think back in the day they did something different, because you can't just burn SO2 into SO3. It needs heat, pressure and a catalyst for that in modern plants. I don't know it from the top of my head, but I think they must have used a strong oxidizer back then.
[EDIT:] 3 Wikipedia articles later: They roasted iron(II)sulfate into iron(III)sulfate, which at sufficiently high temperatures decomposes to iron(III)oxide and SO3 . Later they used a better method, using HNO3 (even later just NO2) to oxidize SO2 (that's apparently what I remembered in my original post).
Fools are a much bigger customer base.
That's my business model.
Very clever
I'm looking for investment opportunities. Have your people call mine.
"Pleathe buy my bible and thneakerth."
AmeriKKKa. Biggest Fool's Market there is.
And only fools comment such things.
@@Pim3211
It's
A
Joke.
We used to search for it on our walk home from school when I lived in Quebec. The dirt they spread on the roads in the winter months contained it. It made for very fun walks!
"Hand me that lighter. Ok, get back under the desk."
What the hell was that? Is there a running joke here?
@@allelopath 1:51
That was so bizarre! It took me out of the video's topic for a while.
To hi to find the root of all fires...
oh ho ho ho😂
Hey! You got the pyrite firestarter wrong! Pyrite was the first material that you could strike with flint (or any of many other easily found rocks) to make fire, not a replacement for flint! Pyrite was likely extremely important to prehistoric people because it could be used to make a fire well before iron smelting was invented.
That's not the only thing they got wrong -.- .
He was right though in that he was talking about firearms initially in that context. Flint locks were a much cheaper alternative to complex wheel lock guns
@@TheYear2525do tell. Please
Not all who watch know what is right or wrong. Thsnkd
@@RUGRAF-rf8fi
I did post a very short form of this at the time I did the other post, though. So far, no one liked it, though xD . But it is there, somewhere in the comments.
Soo...
Sulfur DIoxide + water *dos not* make sulfurIC acid but sulfurOUS acid instead. That's where I thought "hold on, the video can't be right".
To clarify: we indeed want to produce sulfurIC acid here. SulfurIC acid is H2SO4 whereas sulfurOUS acid is H2SO3.
I did have a look on Wikipedia and historically there are different methods to make sulfuric acid. But for the time period mentioned in the video the so called vitriol process was widely used.
It seems the video confuses iron sulfATE(s) and iron sulfIDE (=pyrite) and/or 2 different processes, because one of them actually uses pyrite and the other one uses sulfates.
Iron sulfATE is FeSO4 or Fe2(SO4)3. Pyrite is iron sulfIDE is FeS2.
At the temperature pyrite (iron sulfIDE) would decompose into sulfur DIoxide (SO2).
At the temperature shown iron sulfATE would decompose into sulfur TRIoxide (SO3).
They then "just add water", but...
...sulfur DIoxide + water forms sulfurOUS acid
...sulfur TRIoxide + water forms sulfurIC acid
So this simple process diagram would only work with iron sulfATE (or maybe other sulfates) and the depiction and wording to "simply add water" to sulfur DIoxide and you get sulfurIC acid are simply wrong in every imaginable case.
You always need sulfur TRIoxide to get sulfurIC acid. Today we produce sulfur DIoxide and then oxidize it at a catalytic surface to get sulfur TRIoxide. And only then the water is added ^^ .
After the vitriol process they used the so called lead chamber process. Although this process might have been already known at the mentioned time period, the vitriol process was still widely used until about 1750. The process graphic for the lead chamber process would be much more complicated, so I don't think the video tried to depict this one but the vitriol process instead. Or they tried to find a process that used pyrite (because the video is ultimately about pyrite) and took a wrong turn. In any case it looks like both processes haven been mixed here.
For the lead chamber process pyrite (and other sulfides) were indeed used, but they had to turn the sulfur DIoxide into sulfur TRIoxide. They did that by adding nitrogen dioxide through various means, which, being a strong oxidizer, in simple terms forced one of it's own oxygen atoms onto the sulfur DIoxide to turn it into TRIoxide. The process is much more complicated, because everything kinda mixes together and you don't simply get pure sulfurIC acid out of it, but it's more energy efficient.
Sources: various Wikipedia pages, chemistry degree
@@RUGRAF-rf8fi wtf, I wrote an intricate answer, that took my adhd ass at least an hour, because hyperfixation and checks on Wikipedia and it got deleted? I swear the post did exist, I edited it like 1000 times after posting. 🤬😡😤 .
Well, here is the short version: water + sulfur dioxide does not form sulfuric acid but sulfurous acid instead. They must have mixed up 2 similar but different processes and 2 similar sounding ores.
@youtube: f you.
Like in the gold rush days, the big winners sold the shovels. If you want a popular item to sell, use the bioleaching bacteria.
That is such a stupid saying. A FEW people made it rich selling shovels. Just like with any other market. There wasn't an unlimited amount of opportunity to just sell the tools. Just like now days, back then, the people with the best chances to make money were the people who already had money to buy supplies and surplus. No, making it rich selling the tools was just as luck based as finding the gold. Otherwise, everyone would be rich.
@@nerdjournal You're missing the point so hard I can't even begin to understand how. Seriously, it takes effort to have the point go over your head like that
I sold computers to google. Ergo, I rich.
but the unlucky ones would get fool's shovel instead
@@Krypto137 Nvidia is getting rich selling GPU to AI'ers...but those AI'ers were already rich AND nvidia was already rich(thats his point, and its correct). Maybe OpenAI got rich, but they are just Microsoft now.
Aint many poor people making AI in their home labs striking it rich. Aint many gold miners traveling across the country, staking a claim, and making it rich without some startup cash(which most people don't have).
Platonic Solids, very good friends that will never get romantic.
1:27
@@weaksause6878 >_> phallic specimen is especially phallic
Unless the bard wants to try anything with that dragon _eeeoughf_
Hence the phrase: doing a solid.
They are just romantic but will never get physical.
03:13
_Then you just add water and you've got sulfuric acid._
Not quite. You get _sulfurous_ acid, H₂SO₃. Sulfuric acid is H₂SO₄.
how did it make its way through proof-reading ? going from oversimplification to being plain incorrect... such a quality drop, shame ....
Shameful. How could a scientist make such a basic error?
I've been a prospector/miner for 12 years, and I can tell you that sulphide ore is among the best types of deposits to find when looking for gold, but generally there is a small part of the ore body which is naturally oxidized and not leeched out, generally close to the surface. As you dig deeper into these deposits, the rock can be made of solid pyrite, but after being dug up, dumped in a waste pile, and left to oxidize in the sun for a number of years, it becomes much easier to work with. Oxidation liberates the gold and allows you to easily crush and separate the values with standard gravity separation. Otherwise, roasting the ore is required, and as the video mentions, this requires a lot of energy. Old timers use to avoid sulphide unless it was incredibly rich, but they sought after sulphide deposits to "high grade" the oxidized materials that were easily available. It's important to note that the presence of sulphide is not an absolute indicator of the presence of gold, but noble and base metals can be precipitated with sulphur and halogen elements such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine, and are catalyzed by changes in pressure or pH in a hydrothermal solution.
Love pyrite, its got super cool geometry, and a unique silvery gold color, also found a lot in Lapis Lazuli ore
And in quartz crystals.🤪
And they have a ship and get treasure.
@@WokeDEMOCRATShaveASPD I was gonna google "pyrite ship" then I got it lol
Interesting. I didn't realize that the gold streaks are pyrite. But I mean I guess it would kind of have to be. Considering it's not gold. Cool!
Suplhur dioxide reacts with water to form sulphurous acid (H2SO3) not sulphuric acid H2SO4
and nobody uses flint to struck sparks anymore, today we use ferrocerium. Sadly, thats the Norm on SciShow, they are going down hill fast.
for gods sake, DO YOUR RESEARCH SCISHOW.
Its infuriating.
I posted an intricate comment, that took me at least an hour, about what probably went wrong with the research here. They probably mixed up 2 similar but different processes and 2 similar sounding ores. It was a bit on the chemical side, I believe that's the reason why it got deleted? (does youtube scan for chemical formulas??). I'm super urinated! 🤬
It's good to see that Thing is still getting parts after the Adams Family movies.
What do you call an old tall ship that holds fools gold? ... A pyrite ship!
"Crystal Sisters" sounds like an educational version of the band Twisted Sister, specializing in STEM fields.
Crystal Sisters, opening for the heavy metal band Actinide Series. 🤘
Arrr... I'm a pyrite. ☠️ 🏴☠️
If I share your joke without crediting you, will you file a chalcopyrite claim?
Underrated.
@@brians1793 more Underrated.
😂. And I read it in a pirates voice.
⚔️
you know what they say, "If ain't pyrite it is pywrong"
0/10 try again
@MaekarManastorm i get a 1/10, i have 7 likes
Well its 14 now so 2/10. Just fallowing the math
That was flippin hilarious!!!😂😂😂
@@MaekarManastormI could compute another pun since you asked for another. Let me just pywrite some python code.
Is that better or do you need more puns?
Pyrite needs no metal to make sparks. Archaicly, pyrite was struck by flint to start fires.
The 'flint' in cigarette lighters isn't flint, it's mischmetal, a mix of rare earth elements.
Or ferrocerium, which is the same thing as mischmetal just a bit softer
Jeff Williams often brings up the old adage of prospectors looking for a mine --- gold rides an iron horse -- in a lot of those desert mines the veins carried quartz, pyrite, gold and other things .
Jeff Williams is my buddy
fun fact, Pyrite is also a semiconductor which means it could be use to make computer processors. It is inferior to silicone but if there is ever a shortage, we have other options.
Silicone? You're making wafers out of breast implants?
@@thekinginyellow1744 No. Though the main backbone atom of the molecule they use to make breast implants is the same element as the backbone atoms of a computer chip. That does not imply one is made from the other or that its molecular composition is in anyway compatible.
Silicone is the polymer, silicon is the metal. They were making a joke about the misspelling
@@jenbanim Right. Dyslexia took my ability to spell long ago. Thank god for spell checker. Doesn't work though if you actually spell a word correctly but just use the wrong word.
Until it molds.
Fun fact , in french we call it "l'or des fous" meaning "the gold of the madmen"
I feel like you're trying to make it sound cooler than it actually is since "fous" is clearly just a cognate of "fools".
@@Eckster no, fous is the plurial of fou, wich means crazy
@@zacthesecretweapon9931 What do you think fool means? Seems like dingue or cinglé would be closer to "crazy" as it's used in English.
Regardless, I just think translating it to "madmen" is silly when it's clearly essentially the exact same concept, and "fools" is a perfectly adequate translation. "Gold of fools"
@@Eckster cinglé is another word for fou yes, in that case fouls in your case in english yes
@@zacthesecretweapon9931 words are cognates if they have common ancestor, even if the meaning shifted and diverged over time. Since the Italian word for madness is „follia“ I suspect both „fou“ and „fool“ can be traced back to a Latin word meaning something along the lines of madness, madman, idiot…
"Despite what video games may suggest, there's not just one ore for each material"
Laughs in Dwarf Fortress
I was thinking minecraft but now even that has multiple
that one statement made gregtech make a LOT more sense.
@@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369 lol gregtech always had multiple . Play modded, dont stay a vanilla normie.
@@rohansampat1995 I assure you there is little normal about me lol, however I really enjoy vanilla, its like lego, you dont want every piece possible to exist, the restrictions are what inspire creativity
@@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369 That is only true for like garbo visual / decorative mods. Also custom lego pieces have always existed and are pretty popular so that was a poor choice in analogy. Its like moving from legos to PCB design. A lot more tools, but a lot more outcome. I dont get to manage a whole factory, defend my base, grow food to eat, and create and fight more in vanilla. Vanilla is not creative, its just yawn. Modded when done properly transforms minecraft into a beast game that blends magic, tech, and ofcourse concepts from vanilla to enhance crafting, survival, building and everything. Its basically like adding more lego sets, and mixing them up and creating something brand new. Again, reallll bad analogy.
We call it Crows gold in andhrapradesh india
Fascinating, in light of ancestral veneration, with respect to inter-traditional iron & fire associations. Are they used as gastroliths, like Ravens use stones for digestion? Thank you, for adding this to the discussion!
Interestingly, the dodecahedron formed by pyrite isn't the regular platonic solid dodecahedron we're familiar with seeing for dice, it has slightly irregular pentagonal sides the create a shape called a pyritohedron. There are no regular dodecadedral crystals, but this is as close as they get
"Pyrite is alright with me."
- Rich Evans, the country westerm singer and Hollywood superstar.
3:15 Sulfur dioxide and water make sulfurous acid. You need Sulfur trioxide to make sulfuric acid
Silver and Gold won't save my rotting soul!
Just break me down
Can't bear no weight, Can't bear no Crown!
I need a hand I can hold up
I need the nickel and iron to outweigh desire
By pulling me down, pulling me down
Burn me to the ground!
Burn me to the ground!
(Burn me to the ground)
1:27 that's a phallic looking rock
Okay Freud
.... you're not wrong tho
No, it gold finger!
@@mkogrady6078 No; Goldmember.
And I like it, no homo.
it's a fossilized naughty-loid
I found a crinoid fossil made of pyrite a few years ago. Very neat. In the rocks I have found containing that and many other crinoid fossils, I often see tiny (think less than half a mm) cubes of pyrite. Little sparkly inclusions.
1:55 thank you for giving Thing a job
The Rocks Box series has been excellent so far, both the content and the mineral samples. I'm so glad you folks had this idea, and are executing the whole thing so well! I look forward to this every month!!
This one buys fools gold. Go for a walk and find it
I live along the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, we have tooooons of pyrite and gold lol. You can see where they took core samples on the beach 10 mins away from me. I have lots of shiny rocks 😄
And bars of gold
In your basement vault?
I know of an old cinnabar mine where pyrite was discarded in large amounts around the site. Hmm....
3:14 Your chemistry isn't absolutely correct. H2SO4 is made by reacting SO3 with water, not SO2. While SO2 is produced by burning sulfur, the extremely caustic, dangerous SO3 is synthesized in a patented process using a V2O5 catalyst.
1:56 actually flint is not commonly used nor used in lighters. What is used is an alloy of rare-earth metals like cerium, lanthanum etc. called mischmetal. It's a metal not a stone like flint.
And then there's the lithium in the stuff. Pyrite suddenly seems pretty awesome.
Wise men say "only fools rush in", but I can't help falling in love with pyrites.
Carlin trend gold in Nevada is microscopic gold inside of arsenic rich pyrite. It has made Nevada one of the most productive gold mining regions in the world
Fun fact: modern day strikers and lighters don’t use flint but rather ferrocerium and works adversely to flint and steel, in a flint and steel mechanism the flint knocks off pieces of steel while in a ferrocerium and steel mechanism pieces of ferrocerium are knocked off.
No one else gonna point out he has a person laying in front of his desk just waiting to hand him incendiary devices at 1:50?
That's normal. Are you telling me you don't have one? Weirdo.
There is gold in pyrite, but it is EXTREMELY small that you need the most advance electron microscope on the Eastern Seaboard to see the gold in pyrite. But fool’s gold also contains silver, copper, lithium, nickel, titanium and cobalt.
I wanted to do a comparison of all the “Gold Simulants” sometime.
I don’t love the “opulent” aesthetic, but outside of that Gold can all sorts of aesthetic uses. Seeing how they all compare vs proper Gold would be neat.
Iron and Cheap Sulfur being the core of some really cool art or architectural installations while leaving the Real Gold for important uses would be neat.
Pyrite is also used to make some jewelry, though it's usually referred to as marcasite. It's very popular in Thailand.
Unpopular opinion: I find so-called Fool's Gold prettier than the real thing.
I think so also😊
I’m gonna sound like the devil “I HATE YOU AO MUCH FOR TAKING OUR BANKING SYSTEM APART”
No wonder your opinion is unpopular. Ornament wise, I'll pick gold any day
I also love pyrite i have a ton of it in my rock collections and love the different geometric shapes it can take.
I agree
As someone working in gold exploration as a geologist, pyrite is one of our biggest key signs of gold. If we see pyrite, quartz veins, low competency rocks, and deformation, that's a likely target for gold.
I am working at a future mine site, and the rock core from drilling we are pulling up near the gold bearing zones is about 60% pyrite.
The mechanics of why gold is found with pyrite are extremely complex and require a significant knowledge of geology to understand so I won't try to explain it here, but they are related.
Disappointed that there was no mention in the credits of the hand model providing the lighter.
Sulfur dioxide also was used as a refrigerant for a long time (and still is in old fridges). I have a GE monitor top that runs SO2 refrigerant. It might just come back as a refrigerant for heat pumps because it's capable of condensing temperatures of 240F+. A perfect refrigerant for the second stage of a cascading heat pump.
Hey @SciShow this "chat at the desk" aesthetic is a nice look. The old-timey glowing bulb takes it up a notch too. Uh, here is a gold star. 😉🌟
I made self running (unpowered) crystal AM band radios growing up and used 1/4 to 1/2 inch pyrite nuggets as a primitive semi conducting diode by carefully placing a thin wire on certain spots of the pyrite to get a louder radio sound on my earphone. These days, a tiny factory made 1n34a germanium diode is a more easy, convenient and effective means of crystal radio operation. but using old school pyrite or lead crystal based galena as a diode can be a fun experiment too.
I love this set. Kudos to the art director/set designer. Also, I want that digital clock.
Once visited a home in Arizona that had the fireplace wall made of all pyrite😮.
I would have thought water was the most widely used industrial chemical.
Pyrite ball milled to powder can be reacted with acids to give hydrongen sulfide which is best made on demand.
Wait a second, the little hand that gave you the lighter was uncredited! So, let me say great job, little hand, I've been where you were once, and I feel you.
Fun fact pure copper its actually not economically feasible to mine. Gums up the equipment. So it's actually better to mine it in impure ores then melt it out rather than ruin equipment on pure deposits.
i have so many memories going into the science stores as a kid and always wanting to buy pyrite. I love how I can stare at it and lose focus and it sparkles in the coolest way…I love pyrite, it’s truly a beautiful crystal
Wow! So I’m not crazy after all to think that pyrite can be connected to real gold. They often bond together… Fools gold after all could contain real gold!!😊😅😂
1:50 - That's a weird place to keep your lighter.... 😂
I thought for sure he'd mention that it can essentially mold. I was super curious so I scampered off to check the pyrite beads that I bought roughly 20 years ago. Sure enough. Pyrite mold.
Sounds like something a fool would say 🤔
Person: finds gold
*gold*: YOU FOOL YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR MY MOST BEST TRICK
1:30 uhhhh....
Goldildo
Glad I'm not the only one that thought that lol.
Can confirm pyrite can be found in coal seams
Literally just started gold panning as a hobby this week.
I dont think anyone cares
@@MaekarManastormbe nice
I’ve always wanted to try it, looks relaxing.
@@roncarney7445relaxing but also a work out and will make your body sore
I just started too! It's harder than I thought but I'm keen as! Also started fossicking
And lithium! Some news came out recently about using it for extracting/finding/something lithium!
I remember learning about pyrite on an episode of a late 70's, or early 80's television series (Little House on the Prairie?). One of the children on the show was sneaking off to 'mine' the gold they had found, and eventually plunked down a bag at the local assayer's office, only to learn that it was "Fool's Gold".
Does anyone else remember that episode, and what show it was from?
I have been told the same story, so can confirm it was Little House on the Prairie! :o)
The Rifleman had an episode about pyrite being found by Luke's son on their ranch and a shyster salesman paying Luke money for that land to mine gold.
I was enjoying a day on the beach with a friend when we found a deposit of clay. We started playing with the clay then and suddenly my friend pulled out a cube of pyrite. It was a couple of inches wide and quite a surprise!
"..Back in the 1840's, the California hills were crawling with minors." Wait what?
Don't tell diddy
and now, they play mining games all day.
the children love the mines. do not deny them their birthright
" Miners not Minors " - Severus Snape probably .
@@michaelpytel3280you can literally hear him saying this 😂😂😂
Technically it was the 1850s. People didn’t start arriving till 1849
Sulfur dioxide and water form *sulfurous* acid. Oxidize to sulfur trioxide, dissolve in oleum, then dilute. EXOTHERMS! "Grind" pulverize. Flotation beneficiation requires heavily sulfuretted carbon compounds binding to then rendering the copper hydrophobic, floating to the surface with the bubble froth, then skimmed.
Yeah, surprised they glossed over the thiol based collectors that make the process viable
@@care2guess Everybody knows the destination, nobody knows the trip. Nothing in the world is simple. A chemical engineer can spend his career massaging a petroleum distillation tower. A new manager then comes along and saves a bundle on "routine maintenance" by replacing a really expensive, large radius high alloy elbow with above spec black iron...that is decarbonized by hot hydrogen in the process stream. Big meeting - "we want to maximize collisions in a fluidized bed. Make the stack elliptical for collisions at the foci. Manager, "we use ROUND pipe for fluidized beds. Civilization vs. sparrow farts.
Merry Beltane!
Oh, to you to!
A man of culture I can see.
@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 Blessed be ❤️🙏🏻
Heck yeah, happy Beltane! )O(
"Let's steal Technology Connections background, but change it enough so no one will know"
misleading title.
Misleading comment
Misleading reply
Misleading comment thread
Misleading partecipation
Pyrite is gorgeous.
Thats gold miners, not gold minors.
th-cam.com/video/YChWz_oow6g/w-d-xo.html
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Sir Alexander Dane : Could they be the miners?
Fred Kwan : Sure, they're like three years old.
Sir Alexander Dane : MINERS, not MINORS.
Fred Kwan : You lost me.
🤣
3:13 Adding SO2 to water does not make sulphuric acid. This makes sulphurous acid, a much weaker sulphitic acid. Sulphuric acid can only be made from SO3, which requires further oxidation of SO2, and is much more complicated than the initial roasting of sulphur. A catalyst is needed plus a carefully designed burning chamber to achieve full conversion of SO2 to SO3.
I am so disappointed you did not mention pyrite Suns at all!!
If anybody knows a good buyer for these beautiful unique little minerals please let me know!!
Our local abandoned gold pit mine had to close because the pyrite was so thick it was messing up the extraction process.Thats what we were told. Carson hill mine is now used for road gravel.
The clock radio on the desk.. best one ever!
you peaked my interest at Pyrite game dice :D
i own multiple acres of private beach on a secluded island in Alaska that has a BUNCH of fool's gold on it. Anyway i can get that stuff into the hands of people who can use it??
I found a piece of gold pyrite about the size of a medium potato. It was pretty with gold crystals showing over most of the outside. I kept it on my desk as a sort of paperweight, until some fool stole my fool's gold.
Sulfur sells for about $100 per ton, so I would go with gold over pyrite. I don't have anything against sulfur or copper, but they are cheap and abundant.
My step-dad worked on the Channel Tunnel. He operated the Alimak. He has a lot of Iron Pyrite that was taken from the tunnel when it was being excavated. There wasn't any gold found in the tunnel. He has around 60kg of Fools Gold sat in a cupboard.
Yup I remember my father talking to me about this when gold planning
Sulfur dioxide mixed with water gives you sulfurous acid, not sulfuric acid. For this you need sulfur trioxide.
Certain forms of Pyrite can also be found on beaches in England, I started collecting it because it was pretty while fossil hunting, not sure what form of pyrite it is, but it sure is pretty!
That pyrite fossil looked suspicious
Usually pyrite and gold are both mixed into quartz veins. Traditionally you just crush it all and then pan out the gold as it's the heaviest element there.
although sulphur dioxide can be directly dissolved into water to form sulphuric acid, its not generally done that way since it is a highly exothermic reaction. instead it is dissolved in sulphuric acid which is then diluted with water
Right out of college in 1979 I worked in a coal mine. The iron pyrite was in wide sheets in cracks in the coal. It was quite a sight.🎉
I used to study iron pyrite! We were figuring out whether it could be used to make solar cells (it can!)
When I saw fools gold crystals for the first time as a little boy, it was instant love. They are more shiny than real gold. The crystal structure with all these reflecting surfaces gives them a whole different quality.
i ve always been in the pyrete team
natural metal cubes are awesome
Huh... why would some minerals spark when rubbed against metal?
Not the first I've run into chalcopyrite. I was working on some project and we were pushing out a "gold edition" except that the project wasn't even finished yet, so we were joking about it being the Pyrite Edition, except even that was too ostentatious, so I went looking for "fools silver" (doesn't exist) and ran into "fools copper" aka chalcopyrite.