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> "All the brass work on the wreck, like the portholes and the breaches for the deck guns, are all still shiny..." I'm not a materials science person, but does
by CobrastanJorji 2y ago
> "All the brass work on the wreck, like the portholes and the breaches for the deck guns, are all still shiny..."
I'm not a materials science person, but doesn't brass degrade fairly quickly in saltwater? Googling around, I'm discovering "Naval Brass," which is an alloy particularly resistant to dezincification in salt water, but it doesn't sound like it was in use in 1914. But I'm also reading about some brass artifacts from centuries ago that survived relatively well underwater. Wonder if somebody who knows about this stuff could clue me in to how these things do so well underwater for so long?
- nickff 2y agoOxidation requires oxygen, in this case the wreck seems to have been at a depth with very small amounts of dissolved oxygen. It seems that the depth it was at is generally the least oxygenated, and it may be the case that the water wasn’t moving around much. https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/5-4-dissolved-gases-oxygen/ https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/5-4-diss...
- sandworm101 2y agoOxygen and heat. This is also very cold water.
- nickff 2y agoHigher temperature does speed up oxidation, but the process doesn’t actually require heat, as it is exothermic.
- sandworm101 2y agoWith the metal immersed in water, i doubt the heat generated from the reaction would hang around long enough to meaningfully impact the rate, not on a smooth surface.
- willcipriano 2y agoThe ghosts of the sailors would never allow the brass to be tarnished.
- psunavy03 2y agoThe ghosts of the officers and NCOs would never allow the brass to be tarnished, anyway.
- bacon_waffle 2y agoI believe bronze (copper + zinc) is a lot more common in marine applications than brass (copper + tin)
- kyteland 2y agoI believe you have those inverted. Bronze has tin and brass has zinc.
- bacon_waffle 2y agoWhoops, yes you're correct. Serves me right for looking at some SEO spam link! Main point was that bronze is much more common in marine applications than brass - I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's been an error upstream as well.