Re: A question for you archeology or metallurgical experts out there...
Arravis said:
What would be the effects of time and environment on the following:
Steel
Iron
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Wood
Leather (treated)
Thanks guys, and I definately appreciate your help!
Steel/Iron: We won't go into the particulars which differentiate the two, but for corrosion sake, they will be the same. In a very dry climate they should hold together pretty well witout rusting. Of course 700 years is a damn long time so there might be some rust, but it won't be a pile of dust or anything.
Bronze: This will likely corrode a bit, but not to extensively given the dry conditions.
Silver: some tarnish maybe, but not much. Corrosion is a simmilar process in most metals. Keep in mind that silver is less reactive than iron or bronze.
Gold: as pretty as the day is was mined. Gold essentially doesn't react with anything (except aqua regia- a mixture of concentrated acids).
Wood: this will be intact, but dry and brittle. If something had been constructed from the wood using peg in socket contruction, shrinkage would either have taken it apart or made it extremely rickety.
Leather: Also dry as a bone. It will probably have cracks from dehydration. It would most likely crack rather than bend.
To explain overall, metals corrode by the formation of acids in the presence of water which enables the reactions to take place (like in a battery). The oxygen molecule isn't all that unstable, and won't simply land on a substance and react (well unless it's a VERY reactive substance like sodium or group I metals). You need an ionic transport mechanism, and acids (which water forms when CO2 dissolves into it) do a nice job of this. It doesn't really matter which metals you are talking about. This process is about the same. Things like alumnium or titanium might wear more poorly because of the way they resist corrostion, but that would take a kinetics analysis.
Organic, or rather, natural substances are generally dependent on water for some of their structure, so drying out can have bad effects. However for natural rot to occur you also need water, so decay is prevented.
buzzard
(your friendly neighborhood metallurgist)