Well cool chemistry story

Phil_aka_Pip

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25103941

QUOTE

Then I should have told the class about the fascinating stories tucked away in the history of chemistry. Like Georgy de Hevesy concealing his friends' solid gold Nobel Prize medals from Nazis. He didn't want to risk burying them or simply hiding them somewhere. So he used chemistry. He dissolved the medals in a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid, and then he popped the bottles on the shelves of his laboratory, hiding them in plain sight.

The Nazi troopers, hunting for loot, marched straight past them. Then in 1945, De Hevesy used another simple bit of chemistry to recover the gold. He returned the metal to the Nobel prize committee who had those medals recast and returned to their rightful owners.

UNQUOTE

jd0272

Superb!

holnrew

Very cool indeed.

hungrymark

Chemistry's ace, but then I teach it so I have to think that. It's certainly the best science at school level - all the best and most dangerous practicals.

That's a nice story - I'd heard it before but didn't realise it was Niels Bohr.

GuitarMonkey

Thanks for the link. I heard the talk tonight on Radio 4. Good stuff.

CabbageCat

Niel's Boar.

 

Heh.