Download article as a PDF. In most states and jurisdictions, security deposit laws allow a landlord to deduct from a security deposit for any damage or excessive dirtiness, but not for any expected, normal wear-and-tear.
Nonmetals also have high electron affinity. This means that it is energetically favorable to add an electron to a nonmetal. So, nonmetals can be easily reduced. Metals tend to have low electron affinity so it is more difficult to add electrons (or reduce them). In short: Metals have low ionization energies and low electron affinities so they are readily oxidized. Nonmetals have high ionization energies and high electron affinities so they are readily reduced.
The pins and edge connectors came from 2 old computer motherboards and a few sticks of computer memory. There is gold to be found in computer parts but usually it's just a very thin coating ... still, gold is gold ! To dissolve the metal contaminants, we need to use a 50/50 mixture of nitric acid and water. The amount of nitric acid required will be approximately 20 mls mixed with approximately 20 mls of water. Using the plastic pipette, the water is added first followed by the nitric acid.