Aqua regia

Aqua regia (Latin for "royal water") is a highly corrosive, fuming yellow liquid, formed by a fresh mixture of concentrated nitric acid (otherwise known as aqua fortis) and concentrated hydrochloric acid, usually in the ratio of one to three. It is one of the few reagents able to dissolve gold and platinum. It was so named because it can dissolve the so-called royal, or noble metals, although tantalum and a few other extremely passive metals are able to withstand it. Aqua regia is used in etching and in certain analytic procedures. Aqua regia does not last very long, thus it has to be mixed immediately before use.

Related Topics:
Latin - Nitric acid - Aqua fortis - Hydrochloric acid - Gold - Platinum - Noble metal - Tantalum

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