IC Holder pins - gold or just gold plated

[paulsutton]

Hi I

 

I have some IC holder pins, I know they are gold  due to the colour,  however I am not sure if they  are solid gold or just gold plated.

Does anyone have ideas as to which is more  likely.    I can try and look at a cross sextion but even then lack the expertise to know what to look for.

Thanks

Paul

 

[Sensei]

Measure density. Gold has 19.3 g/cm^3.

..or melt single one..

[Strange]

They would be gold plated (to avoid oxidation). Gold does not haven’t good mechanical properties (eg it is not as “springy” as copper). It’s also too expensive for use in quantity. Many cheap connectors just use a corrosion resistant alloy. 

[paulsutton]

Ah cool thanks,  I will take the rest  of these IC holders apart and see how much the whole lot weighs,  then see if it is possible to find out how much just the gold is worth.  ?

 

It should be possible to use Aqua Regia for this, it needs a proper science lab of course (safety. equipment and expertise),  I wonder if the local school could look in to this,  would make a neat demo for the students of course.

[MigL]

Not worth the effort.
One of the other properties of gold is that ,as a coating, it can be extremely thin.

[chenbeier]

On 6/23/2020 at 9:41 AM, paulsutton said:

sextion

It is section not sextion.

You can mould a pin with a epoxyresin. Then grind and polish it. Under the microscope you can find a copper core and a nickel gold layer on top.