Other Jimness > Cinder Spires Spoilers
Why not bronze?
Quantus:
--- Quote from: knnn on October 12, 2015, 03:57:56 PM ---Maybe.
A bronze sword would be heavier, but on the other hand you wouldn't need to worry about rot (or rust). I don't know enough about this kind of stuff, but I'm not convinced the trade-off makes for an obvious choice. For the other side of things, consider Grimm's pistol. If we use the UAR argument all the way, I think it would be made of bronze despite the cost.
--- End quote ---
Bronze was fairly universally supplanted by Iron in history from a functional standpoint, and copper-cladding isnt difficult in general, and made substantially easier with electricity and electroplating, so it wouldnt be prohibitive enough to tip the scales back to Bronze. At least in terms of weaponry. For a general material of construction Bronze and Brass had common use quite recently, with various pro's and con's over iron.
knnn:
--- Quote from: Quantus on October 12, 2015, 05:17:56 PM ---Bronze was fairly universally supplanted by Iron in history from a functional standpoint, and copper-cladding isnt difficult in general, and made substantially easier with electricity and electroplating, so it wouldnt be prohibitive enough to tip the scales back to Bronze. At least in terms of weaponry. For a general material of construction Bronze and Brass had common use quite recently, with various pro's and con's over iron.
--- End quote ---
Fair enough, though Grimm does make a point about how he needs to continually replace the barrel of his pistol.
I'm still wondering how they get that iron forged in the first place. The quote from the swords seems to indicate that the rot just induces a vert fast-acting rust, not something that actually "eats up" the metal, so perhaps there's a way of recovering the oxidized parts of the iron with electricity without heating the iron up emough so that it loses it's form/strength.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: knnn on October 12, 2015, 06:05:17 PM ---Fair enough, though Grimm does make a point about how he needs to continually replace the barrel of his pistol.
I'm still wondering how they get that iron forged in the first place. The quote from the swords seems to indicate that the rot just induces a vert fast-acting rust, not something that actually "eats up" the metal, so perhaps there's a way of recovering the oxidized parts of the iron with electricity without heating the iron up emough so that it loses it's form/strength.
--- End quote ---
Whether it's Oxides or some other chemical reaction in the mists, they should be able to recover some of it at least. But that is assuming they have the chemical resources they'd need to large scale operations.
Another factor that may be at play is the Etheric field's themselves, which can drive metal loss as surely as any galvanic issues that ships (or even teh statue of liberty) have. It might also go a long way to explaining the accelerated speed of the Iron-rot.
wyltok:
--- Quote from: Quantus on October 12, 2015, 06:30:54 PM ---Another factor that may be at play is the Etheric field's themselves, which can drive metal loss as surely as any galvanic issues that ships (or even teh statue of liberty) have. It might also go a long way to explaining the accelerated speed of the Iron-rot.
--- End quote ---
I've been wondering myself if the root of the iron rot lies in the etheric field acting as an electrolyzing medium for galvanic corrosion. But, if that were to be the issue, coating the swords with copper would be the worst possible solution! Generally, electroplating steel with a "nobler" metal such as copper or tin is a viable solution to protect the steel (it's the original recipe for tin cans). However, if the iron is ever exposed, the presence of the nobler metal actually accelerates the corruption of the iron/steel, which ends up acting as the anode for the reaction (the same thing happened to the Statue of Liberty; it was designed to have a non-metallic layer separating the copper skin from the iron supports, but contact between them took place and the iron started to quickly degrade).
Coating an iron/steel sword with the softer copper almost inevitably ensures that the iron will be exposed, as combat is bound to scratch through the coating of the weapons. Galvanization (that is, coating the steel with zinc) works in part because not only does the zinc not rust (rather, the zinc carbonate patina doesn't rust), but when the steel under the zinc is exposed, the contact between the two materials makes the corrosion happen in the zinc instead of the exposed iron.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: wyltok on October 12, 2015, 08:30:01 PM ---I've been wondering myself if the root of the iron rot lies in the etheric field acting as an electrolyzing medium for galvanic corrosion. But, if that were to be the issue, coating the swords with copper would be the worst possible solution! Generally, electroplating steel with a "nobler" metal such as copper or tin is a viable solution to protect the steel (it's the original recipe for tin cans). However, if the iron is ever exposed, the presence of the nobler metal actually accelerates the corruption of the iron/steel, which ends up acting as the anode for the reaction (the same thing happened to the Statue of Liberty; it was designed to have a non-metallic layer separating the copper skin from the iron supports, but contact between them took place and the iron started to quickly degrade).
Coating an iron/steel sword with the softer copper almost inevitably ensures that the iron will be exposed, as combat is bound to scratch through the coating of the weapons. Galvanization (that is, coating the steel with zinc) works in part because not only does the zinc not rust (rather, the zinc carbonate patina doesn't rust), but when the steel under the zinc is exposed, the contact between the two materials makes the corrosion happen in the zinc instead of the exposed iron.
--- End quote ---
That was more or less my thought as well. The only thing that I can come up with is to point ot the fact that Etheric energy is related to BUT not actually electricity. Im thinking of it in terms of a third energy form, along with Electricity and Magnetism, that are all fundamentally related but distinct in their behavior.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version