This one has stumped the best please read if you know about raw metal,,gems,,etc

[am433am]

OK he res the story,,years ago i was digging bottles from a old well and i found this one old mustard bottle dates around (1900) with a round rock inside the top of the bottle had some type of metal on top and was sealed in wax..well i took the old rock out threw it in a junk box and there it sat for 20 years..well a few years ago me and a buddy was looking threw the junk box and found the rock..as we looked at it more closely we started thinging it was metal..so i gr abed my trusted heath kit metal detector and wow it is metal..so we started home tested it ( Drunk hillbilly style ) we tried scratching it,,nothing,,we put it under a drill press,,broke the bit,,,well a few more beers later,,we gr abed a blow torch,,after about 5 minutes it started to get a little warm...so them we gr abed a sledge hammer and whacked it more than a few times,,,,nothing...also found out in the process its non magnetic..so after a few more years in the box i took to a local rock hound he tested it for gold,,silver,,platinum..stainless steel,,garden rock...he was stumped,,he wanted me to let him hold it for a few weeks to test more i said no maybe another time back in the box it sits,,anyone have a clue?

 

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[am433am]

ok i did the test and here it is dry weight---39.4 water weight ---52.1 water and sample---91.4 total after all the math----.1
i dont see anything on the chart that is .1 any help please

 

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[SomeGuy]

Your method was incorrect. You can use the method I described where you measure the volume of water displaced, or, weigh the sample only (not the water+ the sample) while the sample is submerged under water, subtract this from it's dry weight. Divide the dry weight by this number.

The volume method is less accurate, since you can only accurately read within 1 ml,(you can estimate 1/2 ml), and the actual volume might be, for example, xx.023 ml, but it's much easier to do rather than set up your scale with the pan under water, and if the sample is reasonably large, should be close enough.

 

[SomeGuy]

Thought about it some more, and the method mentioned by Bigcypresshunter will work with a few additional details. Secific gravity is the ratio of the weight of the object to an equal volume of water, so..

Weigh the object. Call this # A

Fill a container to the brim with water, make sure the outside is dry, weigh it, and call this # B

Put the sample in the water, allowing the displaced water to overflow, dry the outside of the full conatiner, weigh it, and call this # C

A+B-C = the weight of the displaced water. Call this # D

A/D= specific gravity.

 

[am433am]

ok a--39.4---dry
b--84.5--full water without sample
c--116.7

after all the math i came up with---5.47

 

[SomeGuy]

That's still a little bit light. According to the link posted by Bigcypresshunter, (and others I've been looking at ) quartz sand is 7.00, and most hard metals and alloys are a bit higher than that. I can't find anything that seems to approach all the parameters.

 

[ClamBob]

Hate to ask, but could you repeat the SG procedure 2 more times. You might be surprised at the outcomes. Then average the three results.

I can say that an SG of 5.4 relates closely to Zinc Oxide, Iron ore, and Mercury Chloride. Not to mention several other minerals, but I am looking at the metallic ones.

Rule out Iron ore because your sample is non-magnetic.
Zinc would have been much softer.
Your drill bit would most likely have melted through Mercury Chloride (I didn't see a physical description) as the melting point is under 300C.

BTW, we are assuming it is solid. If it isn't, all bets are off.

Good Luck,
BobJ

 

[AzSports]

Non-magnetic would mean to me, that it does not attract and pick up an iron object.

It is not to be confused with an item that will not stick to a magnet. (whatever that word is)

It looks like a ball bearing, not all of them are perfect spheres.

 

[rvbvetter]

I don't know my exotic metals, but what are the properties of uranium? How hard can uranium be? Has it been checked with a gieger counter or something? HH

 

[Max]

My vote is that its stainless steel.
Would not react to magnet, can be harder than most drill bits, hard to melt will torch.
As an apprentice machinest (in past life) I often found stainless steel batches that were almost unworkable.
Just a guess.

 

[lehidan]

I agree with max, if not maybe from an alien mother ship found by a child and hidden in an antique mustard jar so they could not find and recover it to destroy the world, well maybe I watch too much tv?? sounds like a stainless steel ball bearing put in a jar for keeping until the next marble turnement to me