What is Fool's Gold?

In my opinion, fool’s gold is a really interesting mineral, and in this video, I try to show some of its cool properties.

This is the first in a series that I hope to do on mineral, so please suggest any other ones that you might like to see!

References:

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[videocouk]

When I was young, my parents had a real fireplace and would buy coal, it was my job to get some from the coal store each few days. I remember taking some lumps of coal to my chemistry teacher, which had fantastic streaks of gold colour in them. He got one of the lab technicians to test them, and sure enough, pyrites. I was quite disappointed.

[yassminebouhouch]

4:38
“So instead I bought a bunch of ugly ones from ebay”
Wow how rude

[TheEudaemonicPlague]

When I was a kid, in the late sixties, I had a subscription to some science thing for kids. One of the items they sent me was supposed to be a bit of gold ore...but it seems to be pyrite. I've been thinking that it might have both, but it's somewhat pointless to worry about, since whatever box it's in hasn't been opened since we moved more than ten years ago. It's tiny, too.

[Kays_Customs]

2:47 this is why back in the old days you test gold coins by biting them to see if they would bend or they would break

[CoIoneIPanic]

that perfect cube is just about the best thing i have seen on you tubby in a while. Is it possible to cause Iron Pyrite to make that shape through initiating some kind of reaction?

[curtiss.arnold]

I think you just explained something that I've been trying to deduce for a while.

I'm an amateur geologist, specializing in pyrite, mostly because I live near a limestone bed. Anyway.

I acid bathe a lot of my rocks to etch them or otherwise see what happens, and almost always I'm left with a close to neutral yellow solution.

I think I've been doing on a much larger scale what you described at 6:07. And the gaseous subtly egg smelling output also makes the most sense.

Cool! F****n' science!

[crepequeen]

Seeing the pyrite cube lodged in the rock reminded me a ton of the final boss from Pikmin 3

[heyyou]

i NEED that perfect cube in my cool rock collection

[brynlilley]

I worked underground in a gold mine in central Australia for a while and the pyrite we would see in the walls and the backs would be large chunks the size of your pinky to strips as long as your finger

[iulianhojda]

Can you please make something with turpentine oil (the synthesis of camphor, you can extract it from pine resin distil the oil to obtain alpha-pien and from there camphor)

[parishna]

Yarr I'm a pyrite..

I'm stealing yer golds...

[aurum]

"I carefully _shot it with a blowtorch_ "

Mmm, such a careful action

[orbitalpotato]

Prospector: I have found gold
Pyrite: *YOU FOOL, YOU'VE FALLEN FOR ONE OF THE MOST CLASSIC BLUNDERS*

[elbarto]

So you’re telling me that the perfect cube in the stone was natural? Holy rock

[Joey_Hughes]

0:13 "As a kid, I can sometimes remember looking through dirt."
What a life.

[dressedinwhite]

I didn't know that it is called "fools gold" in english. In my language you say "Katzengold" that you could translate with "cat gold". 🐱

[EthanThomson]

"there are no straight lines in nature"
pyrite: am i a joke to you?

[jomnch]

It's something you learn about at 3am when you should be sleeping

[anorak]

“It is about as toxic as cyanide gas, so I wasn’t super anxious to smell it”

Well that didn’t age well

[Nedskiee]

I work underground in a coal mine (Longwall) . Some times when we are cutting through certain parts of the seam you can see this pyrite through the whole face. It’s amazing, especially when you shine your cap lamp (head light) onto it you can really see it in contrast with how dark it is against the black coal face. Absolutely beautiful stuff, the whole coal face will sparkle with it. I have a few pieces of coal at home that are completely lousy with these pyrites. It’s simply amazing, beautiful stuff.