Metals volume and weight vs.

surface area (DD Feb 28, 2012) Considering what surface contact of silver we need to harvest 1 gram of gold per batch. Considering the layer of gold is 50 nanometer thick. A 50 nanometers thick layer of gold equal to 1 gram covers a surface of 10 m2
(50mm3 =50nm x 10m2)

# Gold, atomic weight =196.9665, density =19.30 g/cm3; 1gram volume =51.8 mm3 (we round at 50mm3, 20grams/cm3 hereafter). # Silver, atomic weight =107.8682, density =10.49 g/cm3. 1 kg volume =95,23cm3 (we round at 100cm3, 10grams/cm3 hereafter).

+ Silver beads 2 mm diameter: Volume =0.004cm3. Surface area =0.12cm2. Weight =0.04 grams. 1kg of silver = 25,000 beads of 2 mm (1,000g/0.04g). Total surface area =3,000cm2 =0.3m2/kg (25,000 x 0.12cm2). Necessary for 10m2 of surface contact = 33.3 kg

+ Silver wire 30 gauge, 0.25mm diameter: Circumference =0.8mm. Slice surface =0.05mm2. 1kg of silver = 2 km of 30 gauge wire (100cm3/0.05mm2=2000m). Total surface area =1.6 m2/kg (2,000m x 0.8mm). Necessary for 10m2 of surface contact = 6.25 kg

+ Silver flattened wire 0.15mm thick x 0.3mm wide: Perimeter =0.9mm. Slice surface =0.045mm2. 1kg of silver = 2,2 km of flattened wire (100cm3/0.045mm2=2,200m). Total surface area = 2 m2/kg (2,200m x 0.9mm). Necessary for 10m2 = 5 kg

+ Silver plating 20microns thick: Total surface area in contact = 5m2/kg (100cm3/ 20microns). Necessary silver metal for 10m2 of surface contact = 2 kg

Comparing silver SHAPES and contact SURFACE area per kilogram of silver SHAPE Quantity for CONTACT SURFACE SILVER necessary of the silver 1 kg of silver per kg of silver for 10m2 (1g of gold) 2mm beads 25,000 beads 0.3 m2 / kg 33.3 kg of silver 0.25mm wire 2,000 m of wire 1.6 m2 /kg 6.25 kg of silver 0.15 mm flattened wire 2,200 m of wire 2 m2 / kg 5 kg of silver 20 microns plating --5 m2 / kg 2 kg of silver

10 m2 surface in silver and gold weight vs. thickness (considering 1 plate of 10m2) Thickness: 2mm 1mm 0.5mm = 500microns 0.25mm = 250microns 0.1mm = 100microns 0.05mm = 50microns 0.01mm = 10microns 0.001mm = 1 micron 0.0001mm = 0.1 micron = 100 nano 0.00001mm = 0.01 micron = 10 nano volume for 10m2 20,000 cm3 10,000 cm3 5,000 cm3 2,500 cm3 1,000 cm3 500 cm3 100 cm3 10 cm3 1 cm3 0.1 cm3 silver weight 200 kg 100 kg 50 kg 25 kg 10 kg 5 kg 1 kg 0.1 kg 10 grams 1 gram gold weight 400 kg 200 kg 100 kg 50 kg 20 kg 10 kg 2 kg 0.2 kg 20 grams 2 grams

# NOTE on silver electroplating: Silver electroplating gives only 1 side of the coating in contact with the microbe, compared to silver plate/shaving/flattened-wire that has both sides in contact with the solution. This makes silver plating much less interesting when we compare it with 30 gauge wire (250microns diameter), because plating would need 3 times less silver metal for the same surface contact area, but plating is time consuming and need material and consumables and qualified personal, and also a regular re-plating maintenance for the eating or fell off layer. Also, silver plating immersed in acid used to feed the microbes and/or for cleaning of the coating, is also a big concern, as only lead and tungsten can resist hot sulphuric acid, and it seems rather difficult or expensive to use these 2 metals are support for silver plating.

Conclusion: I have no idea about the thickness of the gold coating we encounter in the yeast-silver
process, but if the coating is 50nanometers thick, then we can collect 1 gram of gold per each batch, with 33kg of small silver beads, or 7kg of 30 gauge wire, 5kg of flattened 30g wire, or 2kg of plated silver. With 3 hours between 2 batches for coating, 24/24 working, we can do maximum of 8 cycles per 24H = 8 grams of gold. Of course, if the coating of gold is thicker, like 500nano (half micron), we need 10 times less silver metal. Our coating on silver is yellow as bullion gold, but I dont know how thick it is. What is the minimal thickness of gold that gives the yellow color? The standard for military-grade thickness is 50 millionths of an inch =1.27 microns. The minimum gold thickness is something in the range of 7 millionths of an inch, referred to as thin gold =177.8 nanometer
from:

http://www.iicit.org/Topic.aspx?wiki_id=357

# http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/9.html

# http://www.tedpella.com/gold_html/goldsols.htm

# http://www.nanoprobes.com/newsletters/Vol10_Iss1.html <<<< <<< Here they say the nano gold is available in particles from 3nm to 50nm # http://www.nist.gov/mml/biochemical/cluster-102511.cfm A good example of the potential application of the work, says NIST biomedical engineer Justin Zook, is in the development of nanoparticle biosensors for ultrasensitive pregnancy tests. Gold nanoparticles can be coated with antibodies to a hormone** produced by an embryo shortly after conception. Multiple gold nanoparticles can bind to each hormone, forming clusters that have a different color from unclustered gold nanoparticles. But only certain size clusters are optimal for this measurement, so knowing how light absorbance changes with cluster size makes it easier to design the biosensors to result in just the right sized clusters. The NIST team first prepared samples of gold nanoparticlesa nanomaterial widely used in biologyin a standard cell culture solution, using their previously developed technique for creating samples with a controlled distribution of sizes***. The particles are allowed to agglomerate in gradually growing clusters and the clumping process is "turned off" after varying lengths of time by adding a stabilizing agent that prevents further agglomeration. They then used a technique called analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) to simultaneously sort the clusters by size and measure their light absorption. The centrifuge causes the nanoparticle clusters to separate by size, the smaller, lighter clusters moving more slowly than the larger ones. While this is happening, the sample containers are repeatedly scanned with light and the amount of light passing through the sample for each color or frequency is recorded. The larger the cluster, the more light is absorbed by lower frequencies. Measuring the absorption by frequency across the sample containers allows the researchers both to watch the gradual separation of cluster sizes and to correlate absorbed frequencies with specific cluster sizes. # http://www.nanoprobes.com/applications/MSAXTALS00.html Gold clusters are gold compounds with a core of gold atoms and organic groups covalently bound to the surface gold atoms. An example is undecagold, Au11(P(C6H5)3)7, whose structure was solved by x-ray crystallography using 3-dimensional crystals. These differ from colloidal gold, which are suspensions of metal particles, usually formed by metal ion reduction; although the particles may be approximately the same size, they vary due to the statistical process of formation. Gold clusters are compounds with a definite formula, and should all be perfectly identical. However, it is known that there is a family of stable gold cluster compounds, such as Au6, Au11, Au13, Au55, Au67, etc. In a given preparation of gold clusters, there is usually some mixture of these, thus leading to some size variation. Methods such as gel filtration column chromatography and ultrafiltration can be used to separate most of these species, so that relatively pure preparations may be achieved. The UV-Vis spectra of the different clusters are also usually significantly different, aiding in identification of the various clusters. Since the larger nuclearity clusters (>/= Au55) have not been crystallized, their exact structure has not been determined. We have found that clusters may be fairly successfully separated by gel filtration using a Pharmacia Superose 12 column. The first major peak observed has a green color, and is called Greengold. Mass spectrometry revealed that this cluster contains 75 gold atoms in its core.1 A second peak is brown in color, and the third major peak is yellow in color and is predominantly undecagold.