- published: 03 Jun 2013
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Tumbaga was the name given by Spaniards to a non-specific alloy of gold and copper which they found in widespread use in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and South America.
Tumbaga is an alloy composed mostly of gold and copper. It has a significantly lower melting point than gold or copper alone. It is harder than copper, but maintains malleability after being pounded.
Tumbaga can be treated with a simple acid, like citric acid, to dissolve copper off the surface. What remains is a shiny layer of nearly pure gold on top of a harder, more durable copper-gold alloy sheet. This process is referred to as depletion gilding.
Tumbaga was widely used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Central America to make religious objects. Like most gold alloys, tumbaga was versatile and could be cast, drawn, hammered, gilded, soldered, welded, plated, hardened, annealed, polished, engraved, embossed, and inlaid.
The proportion of gold to copper in artifacts varies widely; items have been found with as much as 97% gold while others instead contain 97% copper. Some tumbaga has also been found to be composed of metals besides gold and copper, up to 18% of the total mass of the tumbaga.
Page Tommy
From The Heart
Can't Get You Out Of My Mind
(Written by Tommy Page and L. Russell Brown)
I fall to pieces when I hear your name
Well my concentration somehow isn't the same
I think about you from the moment I rise
I see visions of you when I close my eyes
No baby I, I can't see
Living my life without you next to me
Chorus
Oh girl, I can't get you outta my mind
Can't get you outta my mind
And I can't get you outta my mind
Sometimes I wish that we could run away
So we could be together every night and day
I'd love to spend my whole life through
On a tropical island all alone with you
Oh we were meant to be
In each other's arms for eternity
You know that I'll love you forever
Wherever you are, no metter how far