Melting Charged Metals: An Open Question

[Swimmingly he/him]

What happens when charged metal is melted down?

I don't think we've seen instances of any magical interaction with liquid metal in the books. So let's make some theories!

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Nothing happens to the charge if its metal is melted unless it is mixed with another metal.

[name_here]

Huh, I wouldn't have thought that was the case. I wonder what happens if you separate an alloy metalmind into its elemental components; probably it stops working as though you mixed it.

[Shardlet he/him]

I would expect so.  It is essentially the same thing.  You are changing the composition of the metal. 

[Oudeis he/him]

I was recently wondering if there were any way to "clear" a metalmind. I'm sure I've read somewhere that once a tin ring becomes a tinmind, it cannot be used feruchemically for anything or anyone else until the Investiture in it is clear (i.e., the same feruchemist cannot use it for a different sense, and a different feruchemist could not store their own attribute in it). I was wondering, if I'm a Keeper and I pick up a copper clip only to sense that someone's memory is inside of it, is there any way I could "clear" it out so that I could use it, or at least touch it without seeing the shadow reserve of another feruchemist?

 

Seeing Mr. Sanderson's words, however, I do wonder. Does that mean an attribute is always stored equally spread across a metalmind? Not that it would be terribly useful, but I wonder if a skilled Keeper might be able to deliberately store an attribute in one specific half of a metalmind?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I was recently wondering if there were any way to "clear" a metalmind. I'm sure I've read somewhere that once a tin ring becomes a tinmind, it cannot be used feruchemically for anything or anyone else until the Investiture in it is clear (i.e., the same feruchemist cannot use it for a different sense, and a different feruchemist could not store their own attribute in it). I was wondering, if I'm a Keeper and I pick up a copper clip only to sense that someone's memory is inside of it, is there any way I could "clear" it out so that I could use it, or at least touch it without seeing the shadow reserve of another feruchemist?

 

Seeing Mr. Sanderson's words, however, I do wonder. Does that mean an attribute is always stored equally spread across a metalmind? Not that it would be terribly useful, but I wonder if a skilled Keeper might be able to deliberately store an attribute in one specific half of a metalmind?

 

I'm looking for the quote right now, but Brandon has said that more than one feruchemist can invest the same metal, that the charges are just stored in separate parts of the metal.

 

Edit: Here it is.

Edited November 18, 2013 by WeiryWriter

[Swimmingly he/him]

I was recently wondering if there were any way to "clear" a metalmind. I'm sure I've read somewhere that once a tin ring becomes a tinmind, it cannot be used feruchemically for anything or anyone else until the Investiture in it is clear (i.e., the same feruchemist cannot use it for a different sense, and a different feruchemist could not store their own attribute in it). I was wondering, if I'm a Keeper and I pick up a copper clip only to sense that someone's memory is inside of it, is there any way I could "clear" it out so that I could use it, or at least touch it without seeing the shadow reserve of another feruchemist?

 

Seeing Mr. Sanderson's words, however, I do wonder. Does that mean an attribute is always stored equally spread across a metalmind? Not that it would be terribly useful, but I wonder if a skilled Keeper might be able to deliberately store an attribute in one specific half of a metalmind?

melt it down and mix it with another metal that can then be separated - for instance, molten Invested copper + molten zinc = cleared brass. Aggressively force air through it to make bubbles, then let the brass cool. Heat the hunk of metal to the melting point of zinc, and keep it there for a while - the liquid zinc should gather in the bubbles and on the outside. Let cool. Smash to pieces, sort. Remelt the increasingly pure copper. Rinse and repeat until you have a cleared copper chunk of metal.

[Voidus]

I think I remember an experienced Chromium misting might be able to wipe metalminds but that might have just been speculation.

[Shardlet he/him]

melt it down and mix it with another metal that can then be separated - for instance, molten Invested copper + molten zinc = cleared brass. Aggressively force air through it to make bubbles, then let the brass cool. Heat the hunk of metal to the melting point of zinc, and keep it there for a while - the liquid zinc should gather in the bubbles and on the outside. Let cool. Smash to pieces, sort. Remelt the increasingly pure copper. Rinse and repeat until you have a cleared copper chunk of metal.

 

You'd have a hard time forcing bubbles through the mostly solid alloy.  Also, that would only possibly work with an alloy that is 87.2% zinc or higher.  If the zinc content is any lower than that, then it will be fully solid at the melting temp of zinc.

[Oudeis he/him]

Or just hand it to a trained metallurgist, tell him what I want, and give him money. LIKE MAGIC!

[name_here]

I'd think if you completely melted an alloy you could separate it into its component parts mechanically. They're not chemically bonded, after all. Of course, some alloys are inconveniently made up of metals with relatively similar properties, making centrifuge-style separation difficult. Failing that, if you can get something to react with the primary component you could then separate out the product.

[Shardlet he/him]

Separating one metal from another is tricky business.  Some metals when molten will separate out into distinct phases.  But, typically with an allow, the metals are soluble in one another in the molten state.  It would be somewhat akin to trying to mechanically separate salt or alcohol from water.  Centrifuging a molten metal is also tricky for logistical reasons.  You gotta keep the metal hot and have centrifuge that can handle the heat.  Sometimes you can separate things with acids in a process called parting.  This would work well for gold alloys, since it takes some pretty nasty stuff to dissolve gold.  In most cases though, you would need to dissolve both metals and separate the metal ions in solution using gradient precipitation or ion exchange of some kind.

[Swimmingly he/him]

You'd have a hard time forcing bubbles through the mostly solid alloy.  Also, that would only possibly work with an alloy that is 87.2% zinc or higher.  If the zinc content is any lower than that, then it will be fully solid at the melting temp of zinc.

It was an idea, I suppose. I won't claim to have many good ones.