Australia's Science Forum

We have a sets of 5 rods to show expension of metals. They are Griffin & George brand but look ancient. We can work out copper, steel, iron and brass but there is one that looks like copper we are unsure what it is. Anyone have any of these and know what they are? Of course there is no key and google is no help.

Maybe the mystery one is iron with a bit of rust and the iron one is something else. My metal kits(IEC ASEP) contain rods of lead, aluminium,iron, copper,brass,nickel,tin and titanium. The iron one is the only one that has a coppery colour (apart from copper of course). What colour is bronze? maybe it's that. Very puzzling.

linotas wrote:We have a sets of 5 rods to show expension of metals. They are Griffin & George brand but look ancient. We can work out copper, steel, iron and brass but there is one that looks like copper we are unsure what it is. Anyone have any of these and know what they are? Of course there is no key and google is no help.

I recall that those old sets were copper, steel, iron, brass, and bronze.

Copper is that ruddy or burnt-orange coloured metal you know so well.
Brass, the copper and zinc (Zn) alloy, is a nice light tan coloured metal. Plumbing fittings are made of these.
Bronze, the copper and tin (Sn) alloy, is a darker brown coloured metal. Statues are bonzed.

(Note: yes, the mnemonic letters are reversed.)

Thank you!!