Tungsten has approximately the same density as Gold

FluffyMcDeath

FluffyMcDeath

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Isn't that interesting. I initially didn't believe that - gold is pretty darned dense but, lo, 'tis true.

Density of Gold 19.30 g·cm?3
Density of Tungsten 19.25 g·cm?3

Why is that interesting?

Well, partly because the price of gold is currently about $1130 / troy oz and the price of tungsten is about 80 cents / troy oz.

Isn't science amazing!!
 
Why is that interesting?

Well, partly because the price of gold is currently about $1130 / troy oz and the price of tungsten is about 80 cents / troy oz
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Why would density determine price over supply and demand?
 
faethor said:
Why would density determine price over supply and demand?
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It doesn't.

It's interesting in the way that a $100 bill is worth $100/g but paper is about 4 cents/g - but with a little ink and skill you can turn that 4 cents into $100 - which is quite a good profit.
 
So is this your way of telling us that you've traded your gold in for cash?
 
Glaucus said:
So is this your way of telling us that you've traded your gold in for cash?
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No. This is my way of saying that if you take some very cheap paper and colour it the right way you can make an impressive profit.

Similarly with tungsten.
 
The best thing about Tungsten is the sound it makes when you fire the Tungsten Bore Rifle in Hired Guns (Amiga version). You can keep your funny colored paper. :wink:

borerifle.png
 
Who'd have guessed the Chinese would come up with such a counterfeit scheme? So who's gonna volunteer to email them to get info on how to detect a tungsten core coin? I'd imagine very precise measurements and knowing what to look for would do it. Possibly an x-ray could detect it. I assume neither are magnetic. Or just cut it in half.
 
Glaucus said:
Who'd have guessed the Chinese would come up with such a counterfeit scheme?
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Clever, especially when you consider that China is a major producer of tungsten, but not so much of gold. :)

However, you could see legitimate uses, like when someone wants decoys for their valuable collection. However, if the fakes get stolen how do the downstream buyers validate the gold. If someone tries to fence them as numismatics then you could have fake coins going into the market but there are plenty of experts who know what to look for in fake coins simply because they are not perfect replicas.

If the coins are fenced for their scrap gold content (which makes the metal much less traceable and so is much more likely) then when it they try to smelt it it wont melt. That will be a pretty good give away.

Possibly an x-ray could detect it. I assume neither are magnetic. Or just cut it in half.
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x-rays could if the gold coat was very thin, but with sufficient depth of gold x-rays would be useless. Very accurate density measurements could still reveal the fakes but also the speed of sound is much higher in tungsten and it rings, the conductivity of gold is higher, they differ by magnetic properties but that would be harder to tell as those effects are quite small. Cutting in half is the best way but not something you would want to do with a coin that may have value beyond the metal content.

Then there's the issue of bullion which is often moved about between central banks in 400oz bars by the palette load (tons at a time) based on institutional trust and maybe doesn't get assayed as often as it should.
 
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