Just in case you are not familiar with heavy liquids...

Heavy liquids are dense fluids or solutions used to separate materials of different density through their buoyancy. Materials with a density greater than the heavy liquid will sink, while materials with a density less than the heavy liquid will float on the surface. In the analysis of mineral samples, separation based on mineral density is an important step in many sectors of the mining industry. On a plant scale the methods used include jigs, spirals, riffle tables and heavy medium separation. On a laboratory scale, heavy liquids are commonly used.

Laboratory heavy liquid separations result in two components, the heavy fraction (or sinks) and the light fraction (or floats). In industry it is usually the heavy fraction of a mineral suite which contains the valuable component, and which is separated from sand (silica) and other components having a density less than 2.7 g/mL. The solution density used for this type of separation is about 2.85 g/mL, nearly three times the density of water.

Another use of heavy liquids is in paleontology. Typically, these heavy liquid separations are conducted at a lower density (e.g. 2.2 g/mL) since the separation is not between minerals of different types, but between fossil bones and minerals.

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