Mkop wrote:
Cross posted to sci.engr.metallurgy

In a discussion on another site, a metallurgy question came up.

(Quoted on http://haprozdor.blogspot.com/2008/0...lden-calf.html.
See there for his suggestion.)


The Bible (Exodus 32:20) recounts that Moses burned, then ground the
Golden Calf. One commentator (Ibn Ezra) states that 'burned' doesn't
mean 'melted' as one might have thought (given that the Calf was
Gold), but that there is a substance that when inserted into a fire
with gold makes it irreversibly black. Does anyone know what this
substance is?

This seems a little unlikely, as gold is so unreactive. It might just
have been soot, although soot could be cleaned off with some effort.

Best wishes,

Chris