Reinsch test

Process

• Dissolve suspect body fluid or tissue in a hydrochloric acid solution
• Insert a copper strip into the solution.
• The appearance of a silvery coating on the copper may indicate mercury. A dark coating indicates the presence of one of the other metals.
• Confirm finding using absorption or emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, or other analytical technique suitable for inorganic analysis.
• A scientific application of the Reinsch test was presented in 2010 by chemists of Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl für Radiochemie and ITU : in the course of the radiochemical purification of ⁷⁹Se for the determination of its half-life, reductive deposition of selenium on metallic copper was the first step to extract ⁷⁹Se from high active raffinate in a hot cell.