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aqua regia

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aqua regia

a yellow fuming corrosive mixture of one part nitric acid and three to four parts hydrochloric acid, used in metallurgy for dissolving metals, including gold
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

aqua regia

[¦äk·wə ′rē·jə]
(inorganic chemistry)
A fuming, highly corrosive, volatile liquid with a suffocating odor made by mixing 1 part concentrated nitric acid and 3 parts concentrated hydrochloric acid; reacts with all metals, including silver and gold.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Aqua Regia

 

a mixture of concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids, usually one part nitric acid and three parts hydrochloric acid. Aqua regia is a yellow liquid with the odor of nitrogen oxides and chlorine. It has strong oxidizing properties owing to the liberation of chlorine in the reactions

3HCl + HNO3 = Cl2 + NOCl + 2H2O

2NOCl = 2NO + Cl2

Aqua regia dissolves all metals with the exception of silver, rhodium, and iridium. It even dissolves gold—hence the name “aqua regia,” given by alchemists who considered gold the king of metals. Aqua regia is used as a laboratory reagent in such processes as the refining of gold and platinum and the production of metal chlorides.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
Chromium was only detected in nitric acid and aqua regia solutions of sample 6.
The aqua regia method of analysis is susceptible to acid interference, which makes it unreliable if used alone.
b Wet-digestion with HNO3 andH2O2 (2:1) on hot plate, c Wet-digestion with mixture of HNO3 and HClO4 on hot plate, d Wet-digestion with aqua regia on hot plate, e Wet-digestion with reverse aqua regia on hot plate, f Wet-digestion with mixture of HNO3 and H2SO4 on hot plate, g Wet-digestion with mixture of HNO3 and HF on hot plate.
The aqua regia digest results are presented in Table 2.
Soil samples are dried at low temperature, screened to 80 mesh (MSA code PRP-757), a 15 grams portion is then assayed for a multi-elements suite (MSA code IMS-136, Aqua Regia digestion, ICP-AES/MS finish).
The soil samples were digested by using aqua regia method and the aliquots obtained were analysed by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer to determine the concentration of heavy metals in the samples.
Entree soil samples were also submitted to Skyline for 49 element, Aqua Regia digestion, TE-3 ICP/MS analysis.
The samples were digested with HF-HCl[O.sub.4] (Lim and Jackson 1982) and with aqua regia (Zarcinas et al.
Both labs used similar assay procedures: a 0.5g split of the -0.075mm fraction of the -80 mesh material underwent digestion with aqua regia and the liquid was analyzed for 48 elements by ICP-MS; Apart from being analyzed by ICP-MS, gold was also analyzed by fire assay with an ICP-AES finish.
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