I know native copper does not react to HCI but does react to nitric acid. I’m writing science fiction and I’m trying to create a metallic (non-magnetic) crystal that behaves like calcium but does not react like calcium.
The only solution is to write about something that is copper based. If all copper crystals do react to HCI then it would make this writing process easier so I can make stuff up beyond this point.
I got a C- in high school chemistry. I’m very out of my comfort zone
In: 2
Raw copper reacts with hcl. I use 50% hcl to etch circuit patterns in homemade pcbs. Usually takes about 45 seconds for 1oz copper boards. Lil longer for 2oz but I have to watch it closely or the fine traces I’m trying to produce will be totally dissolved.
Most folks use 5-10% hcl over a half hour or more, I’m just impatient.
Edit: I totally forgot that pure copper and pure hcl reacts very very slowly (days). Oxygen in water mixed with hcl, or better yet hydrogen peroxide speeds up the reaction drastically (seconds).
Out of curiosity — not sure if this will help create a better answer, but ya never know — what’s this crystal supposed to do?
So when I hear “copper crystal” I think of a metal crystal, like [this](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/cu.png) (which you can grow at home by the way, really fun).
Since you say gems, there’s malachite and azurite, which are both copper carbonates, malachite being green and azurite a nice blue. But then neither of these are really metallic.
If you want a metal crystal that behaves similarly to calcium, you won’t want copper, but instead beryllium, magnesium, strontium or barium – the group 2 metals. Strontium and barium are generally more reactive than calcium, while magnesium and especially beryllium are less reactive.
So is the premise in your writing that you need to differentiate a calcium crystal from something else?
> (non-magnetic) crystal that behaves like calcium but does not react like calcium
What do you mean by that? In what other way does it behave? The physical properties of calcium are rather ordinary, and the chemical ones would fall under “react”, so I don’t get this.
Latest Answers