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What metals tarnish least?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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14y ago

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Metals that are resistant to tarnish are those that are very unreactive. Things like Gold, Titanium and Platinum are very unreactive under most circumstances- that is why they are good for use as things like jewellry.

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13y ago
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13y ago

Tarnish is a corrosion product. Any metal can corrode. When iron corrodes it is usually called rust. When chrome corrodes, it is usually called corrosion. When decorative-use metals or alloys corrode, such as gold, silver, brass, or copper, the corrosion is usually called tarnish.

Tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over copper, brass, silver, aluminum, and other similar metals as their outermost layer undergoes a chemical reaction. Tarnish does not always result from the sole effects of oxygen in the air. For example, silver needs hydrogen sulfide to tarnish; it does not tarnish with only oxygen. It often appears as a dull, gray or black film or coating over metal. Tarnish is a surface phenomenon, that is self-limiting unlike rust. Only the top few layers of the metal react, and the layer of tarnish seals and protects the underlying layers from reacting.

Tarnish actually preserves the underlying metal in outdoor use and is called patina. The formation of patina is necessary in applications such as copper roofing, and outdoor copper, bronze, and brass statues and fittings.

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11y ago
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14y ago

Gold and stainless steel keep their luster quite well. So does bronze. The antikythera device was a clever greek bronze computer that sat in the Mediterranean about 2000 years.

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13y ago

Noble metals. This is because they are very non-reactive and do not react with substances present in the environment such as moisture oxygen etc.

eg are gold platinum

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Q: What metals tarnish least?
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