indium, maybe tin?

[miles]

when i bought my lead production pot a while back i got a block of metal that says 'indium' on it. when i went to school today me and my schience teacher did a test to see what metal it was. it came out with a weight of 7.15. indium and tin have a weight of 7.31. so thats what we think it is. but from what my teacher says indium is hard to get ahold of. could it be tin?

[David Reid]

Hare U R: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium If it is indium which it probably is in some form dont convert it to sinkers or jigheads which is sheer waste but sell it to someone such as an oldtime engine rebuilder who pours their own bearings or someone else it can benefit. Note what the article says: The average indium price for 2005 was US$900 per kilogram. Validate it and list it on Ebay and you might get quite a few bob for it. Like they say One mans junk is another mans treasure.

[David Reid]

Just recalled a few years ago with photo voltaic cells (PVs) there was a lot of excitement with something like indium gallium selenide or something similar if they could figure out how to convert it into PVs. Highest conversion efficiency attainable with standard PVs is around 26%. This had an efficiency conversion off memory of somewhere between 72 and 76%.

Do a little Googling and a little research just for your own interest and education and you may learn a bit which also may reward you as well. I see Google returns something like 4,610,000 hits. http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=indium&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Something like the colour of the metal might give you an indication.

[miles]

so you really think it might be indium? i just have a feeling it it tin, if i could only give you a picture of it so you could see it, maybe that would help out.

[Vodkaman]

I doubt if anyone would make that mistake an $900/kg.

I read that it was use in lead free substitutes to lower the melting point as it has a melting point of about (from memory) 156deg Celsius. If it is pure indium, it's melting point temperature could easily be tested in a lab.

[David Reid]

It depends on how old it is. As a metal its use and price has spiralled in the last 10 years and especially in the last 5 years with Flat TV screens. It was mostly just a byproduct of zinc smelting and tin mining once. In 2002 it was worth $200/kg and its increasing current widespread use has pushed the price up for the last 10 years or so. I would certainly doubt that what you have is pure, more likely it is an alloy or mixture of a small amount of indium and tin and or other metals like zinc or lead. (My pick is its a tin indium mix to lower the melting point). Like I said do some Googling and research on the net. And if possible look for a simple easy way to do an assay. Anything else and advice from anyone here is just guesswork. I certainly wouldnt use it in Jigheads or whatever before finding out what you have. Who knows a bit of research may pay dividends but even it dosnt a little bit of edification and education wont hurt you. The world is full of stupid thick people as it is who are often killing one another because of religion or politics so dont whatever you do add to their numbers. Remember its the brute animal that breeds not intelligence. If you fornicate with monkeys you certainly dont get Einsteins for children. Whatever you learn is likely to benefit you in the longrun. Good Luck.

[miles]

here in the next couple of days me and my science teacher will do another test to really find out. once i do i wll tell yall. im pretty sure its just tin.