Refining Gold

How to refine gold

The processes used to refine gold are many centuries old. The two most common methods of refining gold are refining with flame and the use of chemicals.

There are actually a few different methods of refining gold. Depending upon the quantity of gold you are working with and the desired level of purity, the two most common methods for refining gold are the use of high temperature flame and the use of chemicals to refine the gold.

Refining with flame is one of the oldest methods of refining metals. Mentioned even in the bible, refining by fire is the preferable method for larger quantities of gold. In ancient times, this form of refining involved a craftsman sitting next to a hot fire with molten gold in a crucible being stirred and skimmed to remove the impurities or dross that rose to the top of the molten metal. With flames reaching temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees Celsius, this job was definitely a dangerous occupation for the gold refiner. The tradition remains largely untouched today with the exception of a few advancements in safety and precision.

The second method of refining gold involves the use of chemicals. Strong acids are used to dissolve the impurities in the gold ore and afterwards, are neutralized and washed away, taking the impurities with them. The resulting product is a muddy substance that is almost pure gold (99.999% or 24K). This muddy substance is dried until it is a powdered residue and then heated with a torch or other source of heat to melt the gold powder into useable gold. The acids used for this process are Nitric acid and Hydrochloric acid.

http://www.gold-traders.co.uk/gold-information/how-to-refine-gold.asp

PASSPORT RENEWAL PROCEDURE

Requirements for renewal of old passport in Uganda:

1. Formally written application letter addressed to the Passport Control Office under Ministry of Internal Affairs.
2. 2 passport photos
3. A copy of page 45 of old passport
4. Your old passport
5. Pay 150,000/= UGX, Bank charges 2,500/=, Total is UGX 152,500/= to either Diamond Trust Bank or Stanbic Bank, Take payment slip/reciept
6. Photocopy of your birth certificate
7. Photocopy of old passport BIODATA Page (Page with Name, Age, Birthday, Occupation, etc)
8. Copy of Academic/Professional Qualifications e.g. University Certificate/Transcripts to show you are qualified for your profession.
9. Finally your application forms that look like the one below:

FORMS A & B

Please note, that for renewal of passport, you don't need to visit the LC's and RDC for signing of your forms.
This is because you are already confirmed as a Ugandan Citizen.

You must have one person recommending you.
Be patient with the process and be orderly!

Good luck!

What Can We Learn From Ants?

April 22, 2010 in Animal Stories and Principles, What Can We Learn From... ? | Tags: action, optimism, persistence, success

Two ants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Proverbs 30:25 says, “Ants are of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”
Ants are amazing creatures.  It’s estimated that if you were to weigh all of the ants on earth, they would weigh more than the total human population.   Whilst we don’t want them running around in our kitchens, there is a lot that we can learn from them.
So what can we learn from these remarkable insects?  Jim Rohn, a leading business philosopher had a terrific theme that he used to teach called the Ant Philosophy.  It outlines some simple principles that we can all learn from.
What is the Ant Philosophy?
Ants never quit:  When I was young I was fascinated by ants.  When they are on the trail for food, they don’t let any obstacle stand in their way.  They don’t stand there with their hands on their hips and look at each other in disbelief.  They don’t shrug their shoulders and give up on their goal.  They don’t start to feel sorry for themselves and decide that success isn’t for them.
They confront their obstacles and walk around it, over it, through it or under it until they achieve their desired outcome.
Think Winter all Summer:  In life there are going to be good times when things seem easier, goals are being achieved and the sun always seems to be shining.  These times don’t last and ants instinctively understand this, gathering and storing food for the times when Winter comes and food is scarce.
When things are going well for us, we shouldn’t just give ourselves high fives and sit back and relax.  We should be planning for the times when things will go wrong and we are feeling stressed.  We can do this through continued learning and development, preparing ourselves with the skills that we may need in the future.  Saving money for a rainy day is also a great idea that comes from this principle.
From a career perspective, we should be utilising the good times in our career to plan for the next stage.  This is much more resourceful than waiting until you hate your current job and will do anything to leave.
Think Summer all Winter:  When Winter descends on a colony of ants they go underground waiting eagerly for the sun to shine and when it does, they are immediately back out and about.  They seem to have an inbuilt optimism and know that the lean times won’t last forever.  As a communal insect, you can almost imagine them encouraging one another as they anticipate the end of Winter.
There are times in everyone’s life when things go wrong and not according to plan.  Unfortunately, I can almost guarantee that there will be disappointments and let-downs, making certain periods of your life seem like Winter.  One of the elements of pessimism is that we can sometimes attach permanence to things that don’t go right.  Statements like, “Life is always out of control”, “I can never get my act together” and “I’m always stressed” can be extremely damaging and depressing after a while, making our low periods seem longer and sometimes actually last longer.
Understand that bad times always end, things do get better and Summer is coming!
Do all that you can:  A question that Jim Rohn asks is,  “How much does an ant gather during Summer to prepare for Winter?”
Answer:  All that he possibly can!
If you want a flourishing career – do all that you possibly can.
If you want to make a contribution to society – do all that you possibly can.
If you want to have an awesome marriage – do all that you possibly can.
If you want to raise well-balanced, confident kids – do all that you possibly can.
If you want to feel empowered and resourceful – do all that you possibly can.
Life rewards action, so think like an Ant and go for it!

http://betterlifecoachingblog.com/2010/04/22/the-ant-philosophy/

How do ants pass the winter?

How do ants pass the winter? http://ant.edb.miyakyo-u.ac.jp/BE/Kingdom/5657/5657e.html

Although ants can be seen in various places from spring to autumn, they go into hibernation in the winter. In addition, from spring to autumn, many ants are seen to come from, and go into, the entrances of their nests, but these entrances are closed in winter and no ants are seen to come from there. Where do ants pass the winter?

A female ant of the Camponotus obscuripes species hibernating restlessly in a withered tree to pass the winter.

The body temperature of ants changes in response to the atmospheric temperature. In winter, their body temperature falls so greatly that their movements inevitably grow sluggish. Therefore, they hibernate restlessly in relatively warm places, such as the soil or under the bark of trees. Most species of ants eat a large amount of food in autumn to put on fat, thereby allowing them to go without food through the winter. The entrance to the ant nest nests is closed as a natural result of the slowdown and cessation of ant traffic. Furthermore, soil or sand has accumulated around the entrance. When spring comes and it gets warmer, the ants become active and open up the entrance of their nest to venture outside.

Ants in one of Aesop's Fables: "The grasshopper and the ants"

"The grasshopper and the ants" is one of Aesopﾕs Fables. A brief outline of the story is as follows: Ants that have earnestly worked to forage and store food during the summer and autumn, feed on the stored food in winter, and help a lazy grasshopper that has not stored any food for winter. Ants of the Messor aciculatus species carry plant seeds into their nests and store them there. During winter, they feed on the stored seeds. Ants of the other species never store food in preparation for winter.

Ants of Messor aciculatus species store food during autumn.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTS

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTS

1	Like all insects, ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.
2	The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. Ants use their antenae not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell. The head of the ant has a pair of large, strong jaws. The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food. They throw away the dry part that is left over. The ant has two eyes, each eye is made of many smaller eyes.
3	They are called compound eyes. The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants. Like all insects, the outside of their body is covered with a hard armour this is called the exoskeleton. Ants have four distinct growing stages, the egg, larva, pupa and the adult. Biologists classify ants as a special group of wasps. (Hymenoptera Formicidae) There are over 10000 known species of ants. Each ant colony has at least one or more queens.
4	The job of the queen is to lay eggs which the worker ants look after. Worker ants are sterile, they look for food, look after the young, and defend the nest from unwanted visitors. Ants are clean and tidy insects. Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump! Each colony of ants has its own smell. In this way, intruders can be recognized immediately. Many ants such as the common Red species have a sting which they use to defend their nest.
5	The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites. The Slave-Maker Ant (Polyergus Rufescens) raids the nests of other ants and steals their pupae. When these new ants hatch,they work as slaves within the colony. The worker ants keep the eggs and larvae in different groups according to ages.
6	At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from the cold. During the daytime, the worker ants move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that they can be warmer. If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food. Army Ants are nomadic and they are always moving. They carry their larvae and their eggs with them in a long column.
7	The Army Ant (Ecitron Burchelli) of South America, can have as many as 700,000 members in its colony. The Leaf Cutter Ants are farmers. They cut out pieces of leaves which they take back to their nests. They chew them into a pulp and a special fungus grows it. Ants cannot digest leaves because they cannot digest cellulose. Many people think ants are a pest but I like them. To stop them coming into my kitchen I put some sugar outside. They they have so much to eat that they are not interested in coming into my kitchen. http://lingolex.com/ants.htm