"Todd Rich" wrote in message
...
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

"Todd Rich" wrote in message
...
Adam Corolla wrote:
snip-----

If it wasn't my only one, I've got a sintered 5# block from work. An
unneeded engineering sample. I'll ask and see if they have any others,
but I don't think they'll have one for a couple of weeks/months. It is
weird how dense it is.

If you think tungsten's weird to handle, try gold, or even platinum.
Both
are heavier, platinum by a considerable amount. It's about 10% heavier
than
gold, which is about 12% heavier than tungsten. Both are very strange
to
hold, and easily slip from your grip.

Harold

Admittedly, I'm pulling from wikipedia as a fast source, but it says
gold's density is 19.3, and tungsten's is 19.25.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungsten

And I have a platinum wedding ring, so I do have some experience with how
it feels. Though nowhere near as much as you do with your refining
experience.

I stand corrected! I have long labored with the idea that tungsten's
specific gravity was in the vicinity of 17.1. A quick check of Machinery's
Handbook, page 1706, 15th edition, provides a range of 18.6/19.1, very
slightly less than the specific gravity of gold. I would attribute the
slight difference to the fact that it is not melted, although there may be
processes that fuses the material. Slight variations in density are
likely due to the degree of fusion. Dunno! :-)

What's funny is I've machined tungsten enough to have a general idea----yet
never made the connection with its density and that of gold.

Harold