Ivconic's Negative Ion Detector circuit

[J_Player]

Dell has made a number of comments indicating he does not find any difference between long buried gold and recently buried gold, but he never actually made a definite statement to that effect. I would think he does not recognize any halo effect on gold. This is an example of where different LRL users have different opinions about how the devices work. Keep in mind, Dell does not agree with many of the claims made by LRL manufacturers. His views on how LRLs work is not the same as what Mineoro says.

Based on what I have heard from a lot of LRL users as well as conventioinal detectorists, It seems there are a lot of people that notice this "halo effect" which seems to disappear after they dig up the buried object. Because of the numbers of people who report finding halos, I consider it a worthwhile lead to follow in discovering the secrets of locating buried targets.

The chemistry involved is pretty basic: In addition to using the known solvents for gold, you can easily create gold ions in solution by putting a gold object in hydrochloric acid, then adding a litle household bleach (sodium hypochlorite). When the chlorine gas dissipates, you will have positively charged gold ions in solution, which would dry into gold chloride. But the available chemistry of soil is not conducive to producing gold ions in any measurable maounts, even if the best conditions of acid soil wet with ocean brine. The necessary acid constituants of th soil could be HCl or other acids caused by mineral reactions or from organic sources.

My opinion is any halo detected is caused by the other alloying metals which leach out from the surface of the gold target and into the soil. This is known to happen in buried copper pipes which can develop leaks due to corrosion of the interior or exterior surface of the pipe in contact with mineralized water or damp mineralized soil. There also is a "battery" component involved where dissimilar metals are present, such as solder joints, or connections to iron pipes, that rapidly accelerates corrosion and ion production. It should be noted that any "halo effect" may also involve elements of an electric current flowing, or voltage in the halo vicinity as well as the presence of ions. While any electrical properties in the "halo" region would be small, the effect they have on a detector search coil might be very noticable.

Here are some pictures of american copper clad pennies dug up from less than 8 inches in the sand of a California beach where the ocean water keeps the coins wet. Once a pinhole leak allows ocean water into the zinc core area, the battery action rapidly accelerates the corrosion process. Even after all the zinc is gone, the copper will continue to corrode untill all that remains is chloride salts of copper, disolved away into the ocean. There is no halo expected in this case because the coins are surrounded by moving water that is regularly replaced with every tide.

These coins have been in the sand for less than 3 months. There is considerable corrosion, with the corroded metals changed to ions which combine to form salts in the wet surroundings. If the water was not replenished daily, we could expect a sizable weight of metal to become concentrated as ions in the near vicinity of the coins. These ions would convert to salts or remain as ions suspended in the damp soil.
A simple way to test and find out if there is heavily ionized soil in a "halo" around a buried target is to find a target that you suspect has a halo (buried coin with good percent copper or tin). Then dig up the target carefully, so the target and neighboring soil for 6 inches around is not disturbed. When the target plug is removed, put it in a plastic flower pot like a potted plant, with spare loose soil from the same hole to fill the area around the plug. Set the pot on clean ground that has no other buried targets nearby to iunterfere. Then you can perform the following tests:

1) Use a conventional metal detecetor to measure the signal strength and detection range from all angles and record the measurements. Next, pinpoint the exact location of the target inside the plug and carefully probe into the plug to where the coin is and remove it with long nose pliers, without disturbing the plug any more than necessary. Close the hole after removing the coin and check the plug again with the metal detector. You might find some evidence of a signal from a "residual halo" of ionized metal salts. But maybe not.

2) Try putting the coin back in the same location in the plug. See if you get the same readings as before.

3) Dig a second plug the same size as the first at a hole neighboring where you found the coin, and put the coin in the new "clean" plug, then see what reading s the detector shows. Be sure to dig the new "clean plug" the same as you dug the plug with the coin, and put it in an identical plastic flower pot. USe the same long-nose pliers to insert the coin into the plug.

4) Repeat the whole experiment, with cleaning the surface of the coin before returning it to the plug.

Final note: You can create a coin with a halo by taking a copper coin and burying it in a container of soil to which you add just enough ocean water to keep it damp. Put a cover on the container and let it sit for a few weeks. I have an up-comming "mayonnaise jar test" for coin halos which will begin in a few weeks, involving lots of mayonnaise jars and coins. I exect it will take several months for any halo to develop, if it does at all. If you have any test suggestions, let me know in the next few weeks.