WEBVTT - What's the Difference Between Gold and Pyrite?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Bobebam. Here, Martin Frobisher thought he'd hit

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<v Speaker 1>the jackpot. The year fifteen seventy six found this English

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<v Speaker 1>explorer and legal pirate. He was sanctioned by the crown

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<v Speaker 1>to plunder enemy treasure ships seeking the Northwest Passage, the

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<v Speaker 1>undiscovered Arctic sea route that links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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<v Speaker 1>He found something else instead, Labrador, Canada and what's now

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<v Speaker 1>Frobisher Bay. But weeks later he sailed west and reached

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<v Speaker 1>icy Baffin Island, where he gathered a mineral sample that

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<v Speaker 1>seemed to be flaked with gold. But it wasn't well,

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<v Speaker 1>not according to the royalist sayer, who identified the shiny

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<v Speaker 1>bits as pye rite, also known as fool's gold. Undeterred,

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<v Speaker 1>Queen Elizabeth's merchants sent Frobisher back to Baffin, where he

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<v Speaker 1>gathered and shipped fourteen hundred tons of ore, most of

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<v Speaker 1>it was worthless. In a few tested samples, the gold

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<v Speaker 1>content was only five to fourteen parts per billion. Though

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<v Speaker 1>he longed to abandon Baffin and go exploring again, Frobisher

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<v Speaker 1>spent years fruitlessly hunting Arctic treasure. And it was all

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<v Speaker 1>because of that, Pie, write. Captain Christopher Newport could likely sympathize.

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<v Speaker 1>As the leader of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in

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<v Speaker 1>North America, he was constantly getting tricked by new world

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<v Speaker 1>gold that turned out to be you guessed at Pie, write.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's say you're a prospector, or maybe just a

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<v Speaker 1>bright eyed field geologist. How do you avoid Pye, writes, trickery.

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<v Speaker 1>Before we get into that, it might be a good

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<v Speaker 1>idea to explain what pyrite actually is in the first place.

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<v Speaker 1>Real gold is a chemical element, a substance that no

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<v Speaker 1>ordinary chemical process like electrolysis or heating can break down.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got a classroom periodic table handy, look for

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<v Speaker 1>gold between platinum and mercury. Gold's chemical symbol is au,

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<v Speaker 1>derived from that element's Latin language name aurum. A fun

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<v Speaker 1>way to remember this is to say to yourself, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>you give me back my gold. But pyrite is different.

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<v Speaker 1>Unlike gold, It's a compound made up of two different elements,

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<v Speaker 1>iron and sulfur, and that's why it's sometimes referred to

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<v Speaker 1>by the name iron sulfide. Scientists write out pyrites chemical

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<v Speaker 1>formula as F E S two. You see iron and

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<v Speaker 1>Sulfur's chemical symbols are FE and S, respectively, and each

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<v Speaker 1>pyrite molecule contains one iron atom along with two sulfur atoms.

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<v Speaker 1>And telling golden pyrite apart. Really isn't that difficult If

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<v Speaker 1>you know what you're doing. Ever watch the Olympics, then

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<v Speaker 1>you'll probably know those world class athletes love to bite

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<v Speaker 1>their gold medals in front of the cameras. Seriously. It

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<v Speaker 1>happens a lot, and the practice comes from the old

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<v Speaker 1>belief that one can bite gold coins to see if

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<v Speaker 1>their counterfeit. Most supposedly, nibbling on any coin with the

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<v Speaker 1>high enough gold content will leave bite marks behind. The

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<v Speaker 1>truth is a little more complicated, but the custom does

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<v Speaker 1>have a basis. In fact. On the Most scale, which

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<v Speaker 1>rates the hardness of gems and minerals, gold has a

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<v Speaker 1>ranking of just two point five to three as elements go.

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<v Speaker 1>It's rather soft, so a gold nugget can easily be

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<v Speaker 1>scratched with a pocket knife. Pyrite has the advantage here.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a bit harder, coming in at a six to

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<v Speaker 1>six point five on the most scale. Forget knives. You

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<v Speaker 1>need a high quality metal file to scratch this stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Steel hammers are another tool that can give the game away.

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<v Speaker 1>Hit some pyrite with one of these beauties and it'll

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<v Speaker 1>send sparks flying. If you're persistent enough, the pirate will

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<v Speaker 1>shatter and eventually get reduced to a powder. And none

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<v Speaker 1>of that will happen when you strike gold with a hammer.

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<v Speaker 1>No sparks, no powder. Instead, you might just end up

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<v Speaker 1>expanding or flattening the sample. Not only as gold soft,

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<v Speaker 1>it's malleable to boot. Visually, both materials are yellowish, but

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<v Speaker 1>gold is less brassy in hue. It also does not

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<v Speaker 1>form cube shaped crystals as pyrite often does. On the contrary,

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<v Speaker 1>most of the gold encountered in the field takes the

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<v Speaker 1>form of either flakes or lumpy nuggets. Gold will also

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<v Speaker 1>leave a yellow streak behind if it's rubbed against a

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<v Speaker 1>bit of porcelain or white ceramic tile, and repeat the

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<v Speaker 1>same experiment with pyrite, and it will leave a darker

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<v Speaker 1>greenish black line. If you're still in doubt, the nose nose.

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<v Speaker 1>Although gold is pretty much odorless, pyrite has a faint smell,

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<v Speaker 1>and it smells like rotten eggs. Again, it's loaded with sulfur.

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<v Speaker 1>But where things can get confusing is golden pyrites sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>turn up in the same deposits. Remember Frobisher's or did

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<v Speaker 1>contain some genuine gold, albeit a teeny tiny amount. If

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<v Speaker 1>real gold keeps eluding, you, don't despair. Fool's gold is

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<v Speaker 1>not completely useless. Like we already mentioned. It can be

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<v Speaker 1>used to produce sparks and or by start fires that

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<v Speaker 1>made Pye write a valuable commodity in ancient and prehistoric societies. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 1>the word pye write itself came from a Greek term

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<v Speaker 1>for firestone, and the future may bring a new appreciation

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<v Speaker 1>for iron sulfide. In Scientists at the University of Minnesota

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<v Speaker 1>used electric voltage and an ionic solution to successfully turn

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<v Speaker 1>pyrite into a magnetic material. This breakthrough could lead to

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<v Speaker 1>low cost sulfur based solar cells down the road, giving

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<v Speaker 1>Fool's gold of bright future in the green energy industry.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>bright topics, visit how Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>is production of by Heart Radio or more podcasts My

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