Amalgam (chemistry) miners seeking gold nuggets with the aid of an engine-powered water vacuum mounted on a float. Where stamp mills were used to crush gold-bearing ore to fines, a part of the extraction process involved the use of mercury-wetted copper plates, over which the crushed fines were washed. A periodic scraping and re-mercurizing of the plate resulted in amalgam for further processing. Amalgam obtained by either process was then heated in a distillation retort, recovering the mercury for reuse and leaving behind the gold. As this released mercury vapors to the atmosphere, the process could induce adverse health effects and long
UCPH Department of Chemistry moved several times, usually to better surroundings. In 1962, Universitetets Kemiske Laboratorium moved to its present location in the H.C. Ørsted Institute (HCØ), named after Hans Christian Ørsted who discovered electromagnetism in 1820. It is less well known that H.C. Ørsted was also an able chemist, and that he was in fact the first person to isolate the element aluminium. UCPH Department of Chemistry The Department of Chemistry () is a department under the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen. It is the largest basic research institute in chemistry in Denmark, and is responsible for the teaching of chemistry at