Copper Iridium Metal

Iridium_copper

Hi All, my friend has a big chunk of Copper Iridium metal. It attracts all non-metals like paper, wood etc and reduces it to powder. It is not a magnet because it does not attract iron. Can someone please explain this phenomenon ? Please forgive me if I am in the wrong forum. I am totally ignorant of this kind of stuff. I just know its Copper Iridium because my friend said so. We are both trying to gather as much information as possible on this.

ice109

it reduces things to powder?

berkeman

It's a scam, and your post is very suspect. I'm locking this thread, but not issuing any infraction points to you yet, Iridium_copper. If you think I'm wrong, PM me and we can discuss it.

berkeman

Iridium_copper, thanks for PM'ing me. You are probably not a scam artist, but you are being scammed by crackpots. There are no magical powers associated with Copper Iridium, just people trying to make money off of gullible people. We definitely do not permit crackpottery here on the PF, especially like this:

and yours:

You may have a friend who claims to have something that does those things, but they are not telling the truth.

I will re-open this thread for the purposes of discussing the scams that are going on right now on the Internet and in India about this material. But I will not permit any crackpot claims in this thread. It will be deleted quickly if that happens.

turbo

There are very flaky stories associated with this "alloy" including the minting of a limited number of "magical" coins by the East India Trading company in 1616. One little problem: Iridium was not discovered (much less extracted in usable quantities) until 1803.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium

ice109

I got a good question. Suppose you, all the knowledgeable people in this thread, were not knowledgeable in physics or chemistry or engineering or something, essentially completely ignorant of such things. Now suppose someone makes a claim like this, would you be skeptical or not?

turbo

Yes. When someone claims that a certain alloy attracts various non-metallic articles, turns things to dust, and/or magically stalls out buses unless it is carefully wrapped in carbon paper, you can pretty safely reject the claims as a scam designed to trap the ignorant and the people who are greedy enough to suspend their skepticism hoping for a quick profit.

ice109

i don't think you understand me because my question was more epistemological than anything else. if you are presented with a statement whose truth value you are unable to evaluate can you still be skeptical?

turbo

We are surrounded with metals and alloys every day. If someone makes extraordinary claims about an alloy, a reasonable person would ask for proof before repeating the outrageous claims elsewhere. I did not have to Google for evidence that these claims were false, but in doing so, I found that this copper/iridium scam has been running (primarily in India) for years and years. I worked for years in the auction business (and was previously a chemist in the pulp and paper industry, FYI) and I can tell you stories about scams, fakes, and outright fabrications that would curl your hair.

Iridium_copper

Is there a university or scientific institution that conducts research and experiments on Metals ?

berkeman

They all do. Real research with real experimental results.

ice109

gotta pimp my school

http://www.martech.fsu.edu/ :)

berkeman

I think I understand what you are asking, ice. The level of skepticism varies a lot from person-to-person, and not just in terms of scientific issues.

Take a similar example. Several times I have been approached by someone, say, in a parking lot. They claim that their car has run out of gas about 1/2 mile away, but they forgot their wallet that morning, and are trying to get to work. They just need about $5 more to be able to buy gas and get to work.

Now, the first time this happened to me, I was not very skeptical, and was happy to help out someone trying to get to work. But the 2nd and 3rd time that something similar happened to me like this, I was more skeptical, and used a different approach. One time I asked them their license plate number, and then several other questions, and then their license plate number again. Guess what? And another time, I offered to give them a ride to their car, verify that it was out of gas, and then shuttle them to the gas station to get a can of gas and back to their car. Guess what?

So I've learned over the years to be a bit skeptical when hearing any story. And to be even more skeptical when I'm hearing a story 2nd or 3rd hand, and from a source who cannot judge the veracity of the story themselves.

turbo

The Grateful Dead are no longer touring, but if you went to one of their concerts, you would be swamped with professional Dead-head beggars claiming to need very specific amounts of money to be able to buy a ticket. It would be an amount that college students, etc, could afford, but would not willingly give to a panhandler, like $2.85. Lots of people would give the beggars the money, unwilling that the beggars would continue targeting other concert-goers continuously.

russ_watters

What does "not knowledgeable" mean? By at worst 8th grade, I had enough knowlege - required learning for all Americans - to be skeptical of this. I believe kids learn about magnets in elementary school, but I don't remember for sure... I do distinctly remember learning the scientific method in 8th grade, though.

This level of scientific illiteracy is utterly inexcusable.

russ_watters

Most high schools and junior highs too.... (not scholarly research, but experimentation nonetheless).

ice109

honestly i think constant skepticism is what makes us ( scientists ) who we are