But old devices contain a surprising amount of useful and valuable metals that would be a shame to let go to waste. So just what types of metals are lurking in that outdated computer or old cell phone? Last year, London artists Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen decided to delve into old electronics to show us just what precious metals were contained therein. They grabbed a bunch of old computers and machinery from a bankrupt factory and decided to pull out the precious metals.
What they have to show us is a hunk of precious metals that looks like it was pulled straight from the ground.
Let's examine the many components of a typical PC. All computers have these same set of components. Computer cases hold the PC together and are made from steel and plastic. They add most of the bulk and none of the value steel is worth mere pennies a pound. The case can make it unprofitable to recycle small lots of PC's, as the case's mass and volume drive up the shipping costs. If you have a small number of PCs, the best approach is to disassemble them and sell us the individual components.
The cases can be sold to a local scrap yard and recycled. If you have a large number of PCs more than lbs , shipping becomes economical. We can arrange for a truck to pick up the whole computers and bring them to our facility for disassembly. We pay more for disassembled computers, as shipping and labor expenses are far lower for PC components. The power supply provides regulated, DC power to all the PC's components. It is a large metal box with a number of color-coded wires connecting it to the other components in the PC.
The power supply is heavy due to the iron core in the transformer within it. As a result, it has very little value and it is bulky and heavy. Like the case, the power supply diminishes the profitablity of PC recycling. The motherboard is the large circuit board that connects the innards of the PC together.
All the components communicate with each other through the motherboard. The Motherboard is rich in value and has several of the most valuable parts of the PC attached to it. The board itself has many gold plated connectors and pins.
Older and high end motherboards such as those found in rack servers, telecommunications equipment, or military test equipment , often have gold in the traces and components. Bobbie Ogrodowit Professional. Is there gold in a computer? EScrap such as whole computers or individual components from computers contain gold , palladium and other precious materials. Computer circuit boards have gold and other precious metal traces in densities comparable to mined ore. There is enough valuable material to make refinement profitable on even a moderate scale.
Laida Asenjo Professional. How much gold is in a cell phone? There are 0. Geological Survey. That's the equivalent of 0. There are also 16 grams of copper, worth about 12 cents, 0. Darek Pfeffer Professional. Is it worth scrapping computers for gold? And you might be able to get older computers for free, just by offering to haul them away. Muneeb Makhagonov Explainer. What parts of a laptop are gold? Palladium — Hard Drives, Circuit board components capacitors.
Zain Kowalek Explainer. Do old tvs have gold in them? In addition to gold , other metals like lead and copper are common in electronic waste. The cathode ray tubes in older televisions and computer monitors contain lead, barium, and strontium.
These wires can be sold as computer copper wire to your local scrap yard. When selling copper wires from your computer there will be two different types, ribbon wire and computer wire. Ribbon wire will usually be priced separately because of the lower amount of copper inside. The computer wire can be bought as different grades of wire, depending on your scrap yard. They may have a separate category just for computer wire or they may ask you to mix it with regular wire.
Check with them before you prepare your materials. Also there is a chance that the back of your CPU chip as a copper plate, check with your buying yard to make sure you separate that from other CPU chips.
When you are scrapping a computer, aluminum is another metal that can be found inside. Also some other parts inside may be aluminum, like the heatsink that sits on top of the CPU chip. It will usually be topped with a small plastic fan, which allows cooling when the computer is in use. You can typically easily detach the aluminum heatsink from the motherboard with clips on the side. When you are opening your computer, you can expect to be a lot of boards and precious metals attached to them, but remember aluminum is a decent priced metal too.
You can also find some aluminum as the casing for the hard drive inside the computer.
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