A Textbook of Assaying | Page 5

is steel-faced, about 4 inches square, and 1-1/2 inch thick. The block is firmly fixed to a small table or tressel, so that the slab is about 2 feet 6 inches from the ground. The slab is cleaned, and the sample collected with the help of a stiff-haired brush.
~Drying: Determination of Moisture.~--In practice, the moisture is generally determined by the samplers, and the proportion is specified in grains per pound on the label attached to the sample when it reaches the assay office. The method adopted is usually to dry 1 lb. = 7000 grs. of the ore in a frying-pan heated over a gas flame, or in an ordinary oven, until a cold bright piece of metal or glass is no longer damped when held over it. The loss of weight in grains = moisture.
Properly, however, this work should be done by the assayer, if only for the following reason. It is assumed that the dry ore of the sampler and of the assayer are the same thing; according to the nature of the ore, this may or may not be the case. The assayer, however, uses the sample which he has dried for his moisture-determination, as the dry ore on which he makes his other assays, and no variation in moisture would influence the other and more important determinations. Some ores are sent to the smelter with from 5 to 15 per cent. of adherent water. In these cases it is best to spread out the sample, and taking equal portions fairly at regular intervals, weigh into a Berlin dish 20 grams. This should then be dried over a sand-bath, or if the ore is likely to be injured by excess of heat, over a water-bath until the weight is constant. The loss of weight multiplied by 5 gives the percentage of water present.
Example:--
Weight of dish + wolfram 32.67 grms. " " dish 12.67 " ----- " " wolfram 20.00 "
" " dish + wolfram 32.67 " " " " dried 30.15 " ----- " " water 2.52 "
2.52 × 5 = 12.6 ~12.6%.~
There are other ores which are not apparently wet, but in the state called "air-dried." It is easier to take fair samples of these, and, consequently, it is not necessary to use so large a quantity as 20 grams. But with a smaller quantity, extra precautions must be taken. All dry solids at ordinary temperatures absorb moisture from the air. The amount varies with the nature of the material and with the quantity of surface exposed. Light bulky powders absorb more than heavy ones, because of the greater condensing surface. It is on this account that it is well to weigh substances, which have been dried, between close-fitting watch-glasses. The method of determining moisture is to weigh out into the glasses 5 grams of ore, and dry in the water-oven until there is no further loss of weight. On taking the glasses out of the oven, they should be at once closed, the clip put on, and after cooling in a desiccator weighed. If after a second trial the loss is the same, or only increased by a milligram, the determination is finished.
Example:--
Weight of glasses + pyrites 31.0470 grms. " " glasses 26.0470 " ------- " " pyrites 5.0000 " " " glasses + pyrites, dried 1 hour 30.8965 " " " " " dried 1-1/2 " 30.8957 " " " " " 31.0470 " " " " " dried 30.8957 " ------- " " moisture 0.1513 "
0.1513 × 20 = 3.026 ~3.02%.~
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Sometimes it may be advisable to dry 10 grams, in which case multiplying the loss by 10 will give the percentage. The dried ore should be transferred to a weighing-tube (fig. 3), and reserved for the subsequent determinations. The weighing-tube with the ore must be marked, and kept in a desiccator.
Most ores and inorganic substances can be dried, and their moisture determined by the loss in this way. When, however, the substance contains another somewhat volatile ingredient, it is exposed over sulphuric acid in a desiccator for two days (if in vacuo, all the better), and the loss determined. Moisture in dynamite should be determined in this way.
When water is simply mechanically mixed with a substance it presents but little difficulty. The combined water is a different matter. Slaked lime, even when perfectly dry, contains much water; and if the water of soda crystals were separated and frozen, it would occupy a volume equal to that of the original crystals. Perfectly dry substances may contain much water, and this combined water is retained by different materials with very unequal vigour. Sodium sulphate and sodium phosphate crystals lose water even when exposed under ordinary conditions to dry air. Soda crystals when heated melt, and at a moderate temperature give off their water