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assay

  (ăs'ā', ă-sā') pronunciation
n.
    1. Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a metal or ore to determine its components.
    2. A substance to be so analyzed.
    3. The result of such an analysis.
  1. An analysis or examination.
  2. A bioassay.
  3. Archaic. An attempt; an essay.

v., -sayed, -say·ing, -says. (ă-sā', ăs'ā')

v.tr.
    1. To subject (a metal, for example) to chemical analysis so as to determine the strength or quality of its components.
    2. To bioassay.
  1. To examine by trial or experiment; put to a test: assay one's ability to speak Chinese.
  2. To evaluate; assess: assayed the situation before taking action. See synonyms at estimate.
  3. To attempt; try.
v.intr.

To be shown by analysis to contain a certain proportion of usually precious metal.

[Middle English, from Old French essai, assai. See essay.]

assayable as·say'a·ble adj.
assayer as·say'er n.
 
 

The act of testing the purity of precious metals.

Investopedia Says:
In futures contracts where the underlying commodities are precious metals, the quality must be assayed to ensure that they are of basis grade.

Related Links:
For those who are new to futures but want a solid understanding of them, this tutorial explains what futures contracts are, how they work and why investors use them. Futures Fundamentals


 

Test of a metal's purity to verify that it meets the standards for trading on a commodities exchange. For instance, a 100 troy-ounce bar of refined gold must be assayed at a fineness of not less than 995 before the Comex will allow it to be used in settlement of a gold contract.

 
Thesaurus: assay

noun

  1. A procedure that ascertains effectiveness, value, proper function, or other quality: essay, proof, test, trial, tryout. See investigate.
  2. A trying to do or make something: attempt, crack, effort, endeavor, essay, go, offer, stab, trial, try. Informal shot. Slang take. See try.

verb

  1. To subject to a procedure that ascertains effectiveness, value, proper function, or other quality: check, essay, examine, prove, test, try, try out. Idioms: bring to the test, make trial of, put to theprooftest. See investigate.
  2. To make a judgment as to the worth or value of: appraise, assess, calculate, estimate, evaluate, gauge, judge, rate, size up, valuate, value. Idioms: take the measure of. See value/worthlessness/evaluation.
  3. To make an attempt to do or make: attempt, endeavor, essay, seek, strive, try. Idioms: have a go at, havemaketakea shot at, havetakea whack at, make a stab at, take a crack at. See try.

 

In chemical analysis, the process of determining proportions of metal, particularly precious metal, in ores and metallurgical products. The most important assaying technique grew largely out of the experiments of the ancient alchemists and goldsmiths. Precious metals tend to occur as scattered particles randomly distributed, so a large sample of ore is required. Such large samples (typically containing gold, silver, and lead) are still most economically assayed by this ancient method, which involves several steps of heating and cooling. More sophisticated recent methods, such as spectrochemical analysis, are not suited to assaying precious metal ores because the samples of the inhomogeneous ore that must be used are larger than the instruments can handle. See also parting.

For more information on assaying, visit Britannica.com.

 
(əsā'yĭng, ăs'āyĭng) , in metallurgy, process of determining the specific metallic content of an ore, alloy, or other substance, especially one containing precious metals. It consists, in some cases, of subjecting the substance to complete chemical analysis and, in others, of simply determining the quantity present of one or more of the metal constituents. An accurate assay depends first upon procuring a representative sample of the ore in question. Since distribution of the ore's components is not uniform, a common method employed in obtaining this sample is to procure several samples, crush and mix them together, and from the final mass take the sample to be assayed. Assays are said to be gravimetric when the weight of the metal is determined and volumetric when the analysis involves the volume of the metal in solution as compared to that in a standardized solution. A wet assay (one which involves the use of liquid reagents) is generally used in a determination of weight. In a dry assay the ore is fused and the metal is finally obtained in a pure state.


 

Determination of the purity of a substance or the amount or activity of any particular constituent of a mixture.

  • biological a. — bioassay; determination of the potency of a drug or other substance by comparing the effects it has in a biological system with those of a reference standard.
 
Word Tutor: assay
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Chemical analysis of testing ore.

pronunciation The miners took five bags of ore to the assay office.

Tutor's tip: An "assay" (examination of characteristics) following a blood test can help diagnose a disease, but can't help you with the "essay" (analytic or interpretive written composition) portion of your English test!

 
Wikipedia: assay



An assay is a procedure where a property or concentration of an analyte is measured.

There are numerous types of assays, such as an antigen capture assay, bioassay, competitive protein binding assay, crude oil assay, four-point assay, immunoassay, microbiological assay, stem cell assay, and many others, including concentration assays.

Molecular biology assays

Assays are regularly utilized in molecular biology scientific research laboratories.

DNA

Assays for studying interactions of proteins with DNA include:

RNA

Protein

Cytotoxicity

Assays for studying how toxic a compound is to cells:

Viruses

  • Viral plaque assay: Used to calculate the number of viruses present in a sample. This technique requires counting the number of plaques formed by a virus sample, from which the actual virus concentration can be determined.
  • Trofile assay: Used to determine HIV tropism.

Cellular secretions

A wide range of cellular secretions (say, a specific antibody or cytokine) can be detected using the ELISA technique. The number of cells which secrete those particular substances can be determined using a related technique, the ELISPOT assay.

Drugs

Illegal drug testing

Environmental contaminants

Methods of assay of precious metals

A 19th century assay laboratory in Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, Arizona.
Enlarge
A 19th century assay laboratory in Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, Arizona.

There are methods of assay suitable for use on raw materials and other methods which are more properly suited for finished goods. Raw precious metals (bullion) are assayed by an assay office. Silver is assayed by titration, gold by cupellation and platinum by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES).[1],[2]

Precious metal items of art or jewelry are frequently hallmarked (depending upon the requirements of the laws of either the place of manufacture or the place of import). Where required to be hallmarked, semi-finished precious metal items of art or jewelry pass through the official testing channels where they are analyzed or assayed for precious metal content. While different nations permit a variety of legally acceptable finenesses, the assayer is actually testing to determine that the fineness of the product conforms with the statement or claim of fineness that the maker has claimed (usually by stamping a number such as 750 for 18k gold) on the item. In the past the assay was conducted by using the touchstone method but currently (most often) it is done using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). XRF is used because this method is more exacting than the touchstone test. The most exact method of assay is known as fire assay or cupellation. This method is better suited for the assay of bullion and gold stocks rather than works or art or jewelry because it is a completely destructive method.

The touchstone

The age-old touchstone method is particularly suited to the testing of very valuable pieces, for which sampling by destructive means, such as scrapping, cutting or drilling is unacceptable. A rubbing of the item is made on a special stone, treated with acids and the resulting color compared to references. Differences in precious metal content as small as 10 to 20 parts per thousand can often be established with confidence by the test. It is not indicated for use with white gold, for example, since the color variation among white gold alloys is almost unperceivable.

X-ray fluorescence

The modern X-ray fluorescence is also a non-destructive technique that is suitable for normal assaying requirements. It typically has an accuracy of 2 to 5 parts per thousand and is well-suited to the relatively flat and large surfaces. It is a quick technique taking about three minutes, and the results can be automatically printed out by computer. It also measures the content of the other alloying metals present. It is not indicated, however, for articles with chemical surface treatment or electroplating.

Fire assay/cupellation

The most elaborate but totally destructive assay method is fire-assay,also called cupellation, with an accuracy of 1 part in 10,000. In this process the article is melted, the alloys separated and constituents weighed.

The assay of coins

An assayer is often assigned to each mint or assay office to determine and assure that all coins produced at the mint have the correct content or purity of each metal specified, usually by law, to be contained in them. This was particularly important when gold and silver coins were produced for circulation and used in daily commerce. Few nations, however, persist in minting silver or gold coins for general circulation. For example the U.S. discontinued the use of gold in coinage in 1933. The U.S. was perhaps the last nation to discontinue the use of silver in circulating coins in its 1969 half dollar coin, although the amount of silver used in smaller denomination coins was ended after 1964. Even with the half dollar, the amount of silver used in the coins was reduced from 90% in 1964 and earlier to 40% between 1965 and 1969. Copper, nickel, cupro-nickel and brass alloys now predominate in coin making. Notwithstanding, several national mints, including the Australian Mint at Perth, the Austrian Mint, the British Royal Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint, the South African Mint and the U.S. Mint continue to produce precious metal bullion coins for collectors and investors. The precious metal purity and content of these coins is guaranteed by the respective mint or government and therefore the assay of the raw materials and finished coins is an important quality control.

In the UK the Trial of the Pyx is a ceremonial procedure for ensuring that newly-minted coins conform to required standards.

See also

References


 
Translations: Translations for: Assay

Dansk (Danish)
n. - probering, finhedsanalyse
v. tr. - probere, finhedsbestemme
v. intr. - probere, finhedsbestemme

Nederlands (Dutch)
het analyseren van metaal/erts, analyseerbaar materiaal, metaal/erts analyseren, goud-/zilvergehalte toetsen, pogen

Français (French)
n. - essai
v. tr. - essayer (du minerai), essayer, tenter de (arch)
v. intr. - être analysé, contenir de l'or

Deutsch (German)
n. - Probe, Analyse
v. - prüfen, analysieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - δοκιμάζω, καρατάρω ή αναλύω (πολύτιμο) μέταλλο
n. - δοκιμασία, τεστ, έλεγχος καθαρότητας μετάλλου

Italiano (Italian)
esaminare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - ensaiar, testar, analisar
n. - ensaio (m), teste (m), análise (f)

Русский (Russian)
производить количественный анализ, пробовать, пытаться, испытание

Español (Spanish)
n. - prueba, ensayo
v. tr. - probar, ensayar
v. intr. - someter a prueba, probarse

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - pröva, analysera
n. - prövning, justering

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
化验, 分析, 尝试, 被验明成分

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 化驗, 分析
v. tr. - 嘗試, 化驗, 分析
v. intr. - 被驗明成分

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 분석 시험, 시험
v. tr. - 을 분석하다, 을 시험하다, 을 평가하다
v. intr. - 금속을 함유하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 分析する
n. - 分析試験, 試金

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يجرب, يختبر, يفحص, يحلل (الاسم) اختبار, فحص, تحليل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בחינת המרכיבים, האיכות והריכוז של מתכת או חומר-גלם‬
v. tr. - ‮בדק, בחן, קבע את הריכוז של‬
v. intr. - ‮הכיל שיעור מסוים של מתכת יקרה‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Investment Dictionary. Copyright ©2000, Investopedia.com - Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Financial & Investment Dictionary. Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms. Copyright © 2006 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
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