Metallurgists, geologists, chemists, lend me your knowledge.

[visualpoet]

Any idea what this stuff is? A buddy and I found 3 or 4 of these ingots scattered around the apartent complex I live in. It's a very heavy/dense metallic material, bright silver with grey oxidization, it oxidizes rapidly in air (VERY rapidly This ingot has lost probably half of it's mass through oxidization alone over two years (and was kept indoors)), and sparks very easily (we made it spark with a brass rifle cartridge.)

Sorry about the video quality, I don't know what it was focused on, but the pics will show the ingot.



This is without flash:


This is what happened when I tried to use my flash:


Oddy, my brother used the flash on his Droid, and the ingot came out much darker than the surroundings.

[Masamune]

I see flecks of pyrite? Maybe hematite?

On second thought it would be obvious if it was pyrite, as the shiny bits would have a gold appearance.

Run the rock against a sheet of paper and see if it leaves a trail behind (think how a pencil works).

[visualpoet]

It's definitely not hematite. I haven't rubbed it on paper yet, but I'll try that tomorrow (left it at my brother's to play with).
Besides the steel, aluminum and brass we use in the video, you can rub this on the sidewalk or asphalt and it throws white sparks.

[visualpoet]

Got it:

Mischmetal - It's a rare earth mixture of predominantly cerium (54% cerium is a common for mischmetal), with most of the remainder being lanthanum. They mix it with iron to form the alloy that striker flints are made of. By itself, it's too soft to use as a flint.

This is almost exactly what I started with:

http://theodoregray.com/periodicTabl...index.s12.html

[Pandemic]

Damn, $45 for 4"... sell that shit :P

[Ralphie]

I wonder how they came to be laying around in your complex.

[visualpoet]

Damn, $45 for 4"... sell that shit :P

I wish i still had the other ingots! I'm down to about twenty bucks worth now! Lol

I wonder how they came to be laying around in your complex.

Ya know? They kept turning up for a couple of weeks and then nothing. Strange.

[Ralphie]

I wish i still had the other ingots! I'm down to about twenty bucks worth now! Lol


Ya know? They kept turning up for a couple of weeks and then nothing. Strange.

Ya it is strange.

If it turned out to be something like way rare id say it had to have somehow fell from space but it isn't so rare, just rare enough to be laying around in your complex.


So if you throw it at the ground does it make like crazy sparks ect?

Man o man if kids would have found that out they would have been in heaven lol.

[visualpoet]

Ya it is strange.

If it turned out to be something like way rare id say it had to have somehow fell from space but it isn't so rare, just rare enough to be laying around in your complex.


So if you throw it at the ground does it make like crazy sparks ect?

Man o man if kids would have found that out they would have been in heaven lol.

It sparks okay if you throw it along the ground, but running a metal file across it works crazy good.

[DJ metadelic]

the aliens brought it! it's all a big scheme!!

no but how heavy is it?

[Law Grandeur]

i was gonna say it looked a lot like flint. interesting find