Elutriation {was: Re: [Rockhounds] Off Topic Geology in Progress}

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Axel,

Using a vertical upward flow of water to sort things is called 
elutriation.

It can be used to sort by density, even if the material is of different 
sizes. If the material is roughly the same density, it can be used to 
sort by size.

I use it to recycle tumbling grits. It is also quite useful for gold 
mining.

Kreigh



On Monday, Jan 5, 2009, at 11:48 America/Detroit, Axel Emmermann wrote:

>
> Seriously, could a vertical upward flow of water be used to separate
> different minerals according to size or smoothness?
> Or separate grains of minerals from the gangue?
>
> Perhaps this has been suggested already but I' ve been too busy to do 
> much
> rockhounds debating the last week ;-)
>
> Cheers
> Axel
>
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