Can Airport Scanners Detect Gold?

[Potemkin]

I specifically called them "scanners" and not "x-ray" machines...

Can they detect gold? Suppose you put a few small coins like Sovereigns or 1/4 oz pure gold coins in your wallet, mixed with other coins. Can they tell them apart?

I heard about people "getting caught" with gold coins, as few as 3-5 pieces and the "authorities" took them away ("confiscated", but it's rather theft, in my opinion).

I know there are hand-held devices that can tell from dust whether it contains gold etc.

The airport machines are very sophisticated. If they can tell the difference between organic content and metal, that's not too much, but technology is so evolved...

If there are ultrasound machines that tell us whether gold is gold or whether there is something in there...

...I suppose the airport scanners can also tell you whether your coins are nickel or gold. Gold having higher density etc. not sure...

...can they detect gold?

 

[Jay]

I specifically called them "scanners" and not "x-ray" machines...

Can they detect gold? Suppose you put a few small coins like Sovereigns or 1/4 oz pure gold coins in your wallet, mixed with other coins. Can they tell them apart?

I heard about people "getting caught" with gold coins, as few as 3-5 pieces and the "authorities" took them away ("confiscated", but it's rather theft, in my opinion).

I know there are hand-held devices that can tell from dust whether it contains gold etc.

The airport machines are very sophisticated. If they can tell the difference between organic content and metal, that's not too much, but technology is so evolved...

If there are ultrasound machines that tell us whether gold is gold or whether there is something in there...

...I suppose the airport scanners can also tell you whether your coins are nickel or gold. Gold having higher density etc. not sure...

...can they detect gold?

It doesn't matter. Your post has already been parsed by the NSA and your license plate is being tracked.

 

[DSAbug]

The scanners will. It's metal.

If you put your coins into the xray machine, they will show up as dark black and will be obvious.

 

[Aubuy]

If you don't want airport scanners to see your gold you need to give some of it to the security screener first so you can pass through security. I thought that one of the reasons why people have gold?

 

[Potemkin]

The scanners will. It's metal.

If you put your coins into the xray machine, they will show up as dark black and will be obvious.

"It's metal", I know. But can they tell the difference between nickel, copper coins and gold coins? Or do they show up the same way, just "metal"?

 

[pmbug]

From March:

The Customs and Central Excise Department will soon install electronic detectors sensitive to non-magnetic metals at three airports in Kerala to check the rampant smuggling of gold from the Gulf into India.

Additional Excise Commissioner G. Ravindranath told The Hindu that the current sensors at the airports were more attuned to detect base ferrous metals and were not very sensitive to gold, platinum, or silver.

The X-ray machines at the airports could easily detect gold concealed inside the baggage of passengers. The latest metal detectors will help enforcers intercept carriers who conceal gold in their body cavities or on their person. The detectors will also be installed at the green-channel exits of the airports.
...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...ts-to-check-gold-smuggling/article4472187.ece

...
Metal detectors use one of three technologies:

•Very low frequency (VLF)
•Pulse induction (PI)
•Beat-frequency oscillation (BFO)

In the following sections, we will look at each of these technologies in detail to see how they work.
...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/metal-detector1.htm

Looks like the metal detectors *can* detect gold/silver but standard airport scanners are *likely* (not guaranteed) not tuned / programmed to check for it. Airports might have special scanners specifically to check for gold / silver.

 

[rblong2us]

best not go anywhere near fort knox with a gold detector
or get it tuned to the tungsten atom frequency (-:

Or is it just my ironic sense of humor that sees us getting all fearful about gold plated tungsten rumours, yet airport scanners can reliably detect gold ?

 

[Potemkin]

Not that I'd like to travel anywhere, I'd anyway declare it at the airport. I was just wondering...

One day I was reading the news of some guy wanting to "get through" with gold coins in his wallet. "They found" the gold coins and "confiscated" them (= they stole them!)...

I guess it's always better to declare.

But suppose you want to travel abroad. And you "declare"... what can they do?
Force you to pay "export taxes"?

 

[DSAbug]

"It's metal", I know. But can they tell the difference between nickel, copper coins and gold coins? Or do they show up the same way, just "metal"?

when you go through the metal detector, it will be obviously metal.. When you send it through the machine, it's MUCH more dense than your nickle coin. It comes up as dark black and they will stop it for that reason.

There is absolutely nothing illegal about taking gold on a plane or an international flight. What you are implying is that there is a reason to smuggle gold through the airport. I've walked through multiple international terminals with over 20 ounces each time and had zero problems.