🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Metal Cube of Unknown Substance. Tiny yet Very Heavy. What is it?

[vscience]

Found this tiny hard cube of unknown substance in recycling spot in Florida. It is very heavy for its size. Trying to figure out what substance it is made of. Maybe lead? Here's what I do know....
Dimensions: Approximately 5/8" x 5/8" x 0.75" .
Weight: 106 grams / 3.8grams
Non-magnetic.
Shiny when scraped.
What am I?

 

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[GoldieLocks]

When old fashioned weights were created on a real scale, circa 1400-1870?, didn't the weigher put iron cubes on the opposing side?

 

[ARC]

When old fashioned weights were created on a real scale, circa 1400-1870?, didn't the weigher put iron cubes on the opposing side?

No.

Also this is not iron... per the OP's description.

 

[dvanommen]

Lead world have been my guess, but with those measurements, the density is approximately .8 lb/in3, which is twice lead

 

[Red-Coat]

If those measurements are correct, the Specific Gravity is 21.9 plus or minus a bit since it's not an exact geometric shape.

Allowing for some deviation, the only commonly encountered metals which come close to that are Gold (19.3), Tungsten (19.5) and Platinum (21.4)

Other than that, you're then into rather more obscure metals such as Iridium (22.5) and Osmium (22.6).

As said, about twice that of lead (11.3)

 

[crashbandicoot]

Wouldn,t happen to be out of a modern catalytic converter?They have platinum but I don,t know the form.Just a wild guess.

 

[Reulte]

I'm going to agree with Red-Coat. Tungsten does have a cubic crystalline form although this doesn't look exactly like that - merely sort of similar. And tungsten is more used in heavy industry so perhaps this is a chunk of scrap. You can always try to boil it... Only 10,000 degrees F.

I look forward to more information.

 

[crashbandicoot]

I'm going to agree with Red-Coat. Tungsten does have a cubic crystalline form although this doesn't look exactly like that - merely sort of similar. And tungsten is more used in heavy industry so perhaps this is a chunk of scrap. You can always try to boil it... Only 10,000 degrees F.

I look forward to more information.

AHHHHH,Tungsten!!! Perhaps a tooth off some kind of grinding apparatus?These would be Tungsten Carbide so maybe not the same as pure Tungsten.Another guess.